Searching for the Shadow
by gallowsCallibrator
Summary: On Hiatus! Fang leaves. Again. And Max is devastated. Again. Fang thinks that it's for their own good, and he tries to find his "other flock". But when he meets someone from his past that can help him, things go a little off-track. Rated T for swearing!
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Maximum Ride, it belongs to James Patterson. It would kinda put a damper on my afternoon if I got sued for copyright infringement.**

Max's POV

I wake up to the sunlight streaming through my sooty window. Well, not really _my_ sooty window. The window of this abandoned house we came upon. I sit up in bed, and wipe the sleep from my eyes. I glance over, and see that Gazzy has fallen asleep at his post. Again. But whatever, we haven't been attacked by Erasers in weeks. It takes a minute to remember what happened last night. At first, I think it was just a bad dream, but I look at Fang's empty bed and confirm my fears. A wave of numbness washes over me. He's left. For real this time. He's not coming back, like he usually does. Not this time.

The rest of the flock is starting to wake up. First Iggy and Total, then Angel, then Gazzy, and finally Nudge. I pretend that nothing happened last night. I hope that they won't notice Fang's absence. My hopes were in vain, though. As soon as Angel wakes up, she asks, without even glancing around, "Where's Fang?" I know that there's no point in lying to a mind reader, so I tell her, "He's left." "Where did he go?" she asks again, the innocence ringing in her voice. "I… I don't know. I'm sorry, sweetheart." I say sincerely. "Um, I don't know if he's coming back." I can hear the remorse flooding my voice. How pathetic. A leader should show no weakness. Not when my Flock needs me. I try pathetically to change the subject. "So, when do you guys think we should hit the road?" They know I'm hurt by Fang's vanishing act, so they go along with it.

About an hour later, we have packed up our few belongings, and are miles away, flying over some old abandoned town. "Hey, Max?" I hear Gazzy's voice. "Yeah, Gazzy?" I ask, flying above him. "Well… um, are you okay?" he asks, the concern showing in his voice. _Of course I'm not okay!_ I shout in my head, _Fang left, and there's nothing we can do about it!_ I need to take deep yoga breaths, and remind myself that it isn't Gazzy's fault. "Yeah, of course." I answer. My voice went all funny when I said that, like it does when I'm lying. "Um… okay, uh, yeah." I could tell he wasn't buying my story. But, whatever.

**Sooo... thats it. R&R! Next chapter will be up as soon as I get to it.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: Again, I don't own Max, or Fang, or anyone else. They belong to the one and only, James Patterson. Even though it would be epic if I did. Own them, I mean.**

Fang's POV

It's not my preference to leave them, to leave Max, but I'm just putting the Flock in danger if I stay. When I had that conversation with Dylan, he flew off into the trees nearby our Arizona house and hadn't been seen by anyone in the Flock since then. But what he said to me that day hurt. I mean, it's not easy being Mr. Unemotional Rock. That's why when Dylan left, I flew back into the house and locked myself in my room. I know, that's not a very Fang-like thing to do, but still, I hated the idea of being a drag, even a danger, to the Flock. It was that day that I made the choice to leave. I tried to leave as soon as possible, but I kept getting postponed for one reason or another. But today, I will be able to leave. In the dead of night, I will hopefully escape without any mishaps. Tonight, I will be able to protect them in the only way I know how. To run away, and never look back again.

I creep across the cold wooden floor as to not make a sound. But this shack is so old, the floor creaks as soon as anyone puts even the slightest pressure on it. I cringe instinctively when the sound bounces off of the walls. I pause for a moment, to see if it woke anyone, and when it seemed no one was awake, I continue. I'm almost at the door, but then I hear a voice I know so well coming from the shadows. Max. "Fang?" she whispers, the uncertainty clear in her voice, "Is that you?" I don't answer, in the hopes that she will just go back to sleep. But my hopes are in vain. "Fang, come on. I know that its you." she whispers. "It's okay, Max. Just go back to sleep." I try to make my voice lulling, like in those weird meditation seminars.

"Okay." she says; the sleepless nights on the run from Erasers must be getting to her. She drifts back asleep, and I let out the silent breath I'd been holding. I slip out the door hanging off of its hinges, and fly away into the night, a shadow among shadows. I don't know where I'll go, just away. If my very presence is putting them in danger, I will fly across the world if I have to. My heart starts beating rapidly, and an unusual sensation comes over me. It feels as if there is a great weight bearing down on my shoulders, as if it could crush me at any time. Then suddenly, I start doing something I've never done before. I start to cry. I beat my wings harder, faster, trying to escape any emotion. But it's no use. I appreciate the breeze blowing along my face, blowing my tears away, and letting them hurtle towards the Earth.

But suddenly, I come up with an idea. My other Flock. When I'd left before, I'd created another Flock. Kids with special abilities. Not, like, wings or anything, but there was this one girl, Kate, who was incredibly strong, and there was Star, she was really fast, Ratchet had super sight and hearing, and Holden can regenerate limbs and breathe underwater. This could work! I could get us together again, and maybe we could fight the School again! I suddenly forget about the real Flock, as I set to work trying to come up with how to get a hold of them again.

**Attention: I can't do any fanfic over the summer, because I'll be at summer camp for 7 weeks. So to let you guys know; I'm not ditching the story, I just won't be able to update all summer because I'll be at camp. Sorry about any inconvenience.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: Don't own anybody!**

Fang's POV

A plan starts to form in my head. How to get a hold of them? Well, each of them left me with their email addresses. Where to get to a computer? There are free use computers at any random Apple store. How to get to an Apple store? Well, that should be easy. I can hide my wings and walk around in public. I'll put my plan in action when I fly over the nearest town.

In a few minutes, I'm flying over an area of lights, which I soon recognize to be a shopping center with a giant mall. There's a patch of woods right next to the highway by the mall, so I bank down into the trees, raking my time because it's night, and there's no one to be seen. I'll just spend the night here, and go inside the mall in the morning. I walk around in the dark woods, not being able to see. _Hmmm…_ I think, _how am I supposed to be able to find some kind of tree to sleep in when it's so dark? Oh well._ I grope around in the air until I find a tree. I climb up slowly, until I find a branch that seems sturdy. I test it, slowly putting more and more weight on it, until I'm comfortably settled. Well, as comfortable as a bird-kid can be in a tree along a highway in the middle of the night. I close my eyes, and quickly fall asleep.

I am awoken by the sound of cars whizzing by at breakneck speeds, the passengers throwing old McDonalds cups and cigarette butts out the windows of their cars. _Classic America,_ I think with distaste. I ease out of my tree and down to the road. When there are no cars coming, I hurry across the highway and make my way over to the shopping center. I quickly locate the mall, which proclaims in big, green, loopy letters, _SmithHaven Mall._ There are people bustling in and out of the big glass doors, and I just walk on in without confrontation. When I get inside, my senses are overwhelmed. I smell the greasy food coming from the food court, located centrally in the mall. I hear so many voices speaking at once. And the people. There are so many people, all crammed together, but they manage to ignore everyone but him or herself, trapped in their own little bubble.

I walk around for a little bit, searching for my destination. There is a giant map of the whole mall, which I walk over to and quickly locate the signature white apple with a bite taken out of it representing Apple Inc. I see that it's located in the wing ahead to my right, and I continue there. I exhale a sigh of relief when I get to the doors of the computer store. I walk inside, and sit down at a Mac. I pull up Gmail, and login. I click "Compose", and address it to Kate, Star, Jukebox_ Holden, and Ratchet. I begin to type:

_Hey guys, it's Fang. Do u wanna meet up somewhere? All of u, I mean. I don't want to sound pathetic, but I kinda need u guys. I can't go back to my old flock, and I need someone. Or more like some four. Let's meet up XXXXX XXXXX at XX:XX, XX/XX. _(Sorry, I can't give our location away to you guys reading this. It would just put you in danger. But I did disclose the information to the people I addressed the email to.)

_Thanks,  
>Fang<em>

I check it over for any typos (I know, I'm weird like that) and then press send. When I look up, I see a man across the room. This might seem completely normal; except for he was wearing a black suit. And he was staring right at me. _Oh crap_, I thought to myself.


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: Don't own anyone**

Max's POV 

The town we're flying over looks pretty empty. Maybe one of the buildings could provide some shelter? "Okay everyone," I say, trying to sound as perky as I can, "we're gonna land in that town, maybe stay there for a while." We touch down to earth behind an old inn. "Ha ha ha! It looks like one of those ghost towns in the western movies!" Nudge exclaims. Gazzy starts running all over the place, pretending to shoot things with an imaginary gun. "We could be, like, cowboys trying to fight off the Indians!" he declares. "Come on, guys. We need to find a place to stay." I say. We walk out into what I suppose used to be the town square. I see a decrepit sign that says:

Welcome To South Salem

Established in 1783

Population: 112

"That place looks promising." I say, pointing to a small one-story building. Iggy has been strangely quiet today. "Hey, Iggy, you okay?" "Huh? Oh, uh, yeah, I guess." "What's up?" "Nothing. I'm fine." He sounds angry as he says this, but I let the subject drop. We get over to the place I had pointed to. I try to open the door, but it's stuck. I push a little harder. Nada. Eventually, I just take a running start and kick the door down easily. Oh, well. What I see inside is shocking. It looks like it used to be a bar. Everything looks so old. There are layers of dust covering every surface, that must be an inch thick. There are little tables and chairs scattered around the room, and in the corner, a piano. "I wonder if the piano still works?" asks Angel, as she walks over to it. She lightly taps on one of the keys, and the sound of the note she pressed fills the room. "Apparently it does!" remarks Total, smiling. Or what I think is a smile, it's hard to tell with dogs. "Look over here!" yells Nudge, gesturing for us to come over. She found a door, which leads to a bedroom, with a bed, a table, and a dresser. "Well, I know where we're going to sleep tonight!" I announce. We unpack our few belongings, and then Gazzy says, "let's go explore the town!"

We head out the door, ready to face any challenges that would be foolish enough to face us. I'm just kidding, of course, though. I mean, we could be attacked easily and not be able to do anything about it. The past few weeks, we've gotten a bit too comfortable. We'd been hiding way off in the woods, pretty much invisible to anyone coming on land or on planes in the sky. And, Fang seems to have had a sixth sense, being able to tell if someone was coming to our campground, from any side. But now that he's gone and we're basically out in the open, we need to be extra careful.

The first building we encounter is what looks like a general store. We walk inside, and take in the scene. It looks pretty much the same as the bar. Old and dusty, only the interior designing is a bit different. Instead of tables and chairs, there are many cabinets and shelves, which were used for what I'm guessing is holding the merchandise. I look up, and I see Gazzy behind the counter, messing around. "Gazzy!" I call, "try not to break anything, okay?" "Sure, Max." came the reply.

After we were done looking around town, we decided to head back to our "house". "Hey, Max?" I hear Angel call out. "Yeah, honey?" I reply. "What are we gonna do about food?" she asks. _Oh! Food! I completely forgot!_ I feel like such an idiot. But no worries, Max is here to save the day! Leaders should never be frazzled. "Don't worry, sweetie." I reply, "We'll go out into civilization and get food when we get hungry." "Do you think we could get food now?" Nudge butts in. "Uhh… sure why not. Iggy, I'm gonna take Angel with me to get some food. You're in charge, okay?" "What? Oh, uh… sure." I'm getting kind of worried about him. He doesn't seem as on-top-of-his-game as usual.

Angel and I walk out of the bar and open our wings to fly to the nearest town. And by town, I mean the nearest town with _people_. We take flight and are immediately lifted up into a thermal. Up here, we can glide without having to flap as much, and we can see a lot of what's going on around us without actually being seen. Pretty soon, we come across a little town. I can se a grocery store. _Perfect,_ I think to myself. We touch down in a patch of woods right near the grocery store. We tuck our wings back in, and we appear normal. Just a girl and her little sister out to buy groceries for their mother, or something like that. Not two mutant bird-kids trying to get food so the other three mutant bird-kids and mutant bird-dog wouldn't starve to death. No, nothing like that. The two of us walk into the grocery store and I remember something. _We need freaking money! Crap! _I've stolen food from grocery stores before, but only a little bit, enough to feed one person. But with 5 human-birds and a dog-bird, no way we could take that much without being caught. I have a choice here: steal a bunch of food so we don't die and get caught and need to bust out by showing our wings, or let my family go hungry and we need to go somewhere else to find food or possibly go steal food somewhere else. Wow, that was a long sentence. It was like a Nudge sentence! But I think we all know my choice here.

Angel and I run down the aisles, grabbing as much food as we can carry, ignoring the strange looks people give us. I know the whole Ten Commandments "thou shalt not steal" but, really? I mean, this is pretty important. When Angel and I meet back up at the front doors with our arms full, we burst out, ignoring the angry yells we get from the store manager and pimply teenagers that work as the cashiers. We unfurl our wings and run into flight. When we are a few meters above the ground, I just happened to look back at the front doors of the supermarket. You know what, or really who, I saw there? If you guessed Erasers, you are correct. Angel read my mind, glanced back to where I was looking, and took off full speed, with me trailing along behind her. "We… need… to… go… tell… the… others…!" I manage to spit out, since I'm really out of breath. We take off towards the old town where we are staying, ready to warn the rest of the flock that we are being followed by the creatures we have managed to avoid for so long!


	5. Chapter 5

**This chapter's dedicated to daughterofathena2156. We all miss you, lil W!  
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**Disclaimer: I do not own ANYTHING. This is true for the whole story, every chapter. Hey wait, can this be the last disclaimer for the whole story? Is that legal? Let's hope so, because I'm not going to write any more disclaimers after this. They irritate me so much.**

**A/N: I hate Mary-Sues.** **Doesn't everyone? So I just want to say that I am not trying to make the people in this chapter Mary-Sues. They are based** **off people I know in real life, and are on this website. I'm sorry if they seem annoying, because I'm just trying to capture the real people's personality (just kidding, guys). So I'm really sorry for any Mary-Sueish ****quaitlies you find in them. Blame it completely on me. Ok, I'll stop talking now. Read and review!**

Fang's POV:

So you know that creepy guy that was staring at me back in chapter 3? I'll give you three guesses on who that was. If you guessed Eraser, you win! When I saw him there, I tried to make it seem like I hadn't noticed him, like I was just coincidentally finishing up on the computer, and not realizing that a weird wolf-flying thing was stalking me. Hey, kind of like Edward Cullen and Jacob Black all rolled into one! But when I walked out of the door, he started after me. _Oh__ no,_ I thought to myself. _This __isn't __good._My walk became more of a jog, and then progressed into a full-out run. As I changed speeds, the wolf-dude did too. We must have been a sight to see: an emo-looking teenager being chased by a freaky guy with dark sunglasses through a public mall.

When the wide glass doors were in sight, I quickly looked over my shoulder to see how close he was. I saw him about 10 feet back, pushing past some middle-aged woman holding big plastic bags full of who-knows-what. He was getting closer by the second, and was almost on top of me. I only had one choice if I wanted to get out of there, and trust me; it is not the most preferred option. But, we do what we have to do in order to not get captured by flying wolf-human hybrids. I let out my wings. It felt nice to let them out, since I'd been keeping them tucked away in my shirt for so long, but I didn't get a moment to enjoy the feeling. Faster than you could say "mutant bird-kid", I was up in the air, bystanders looking on in awe at my extreme epicness.

But even though I was sky-bound, I wasn't safe yet. The Erasers do have wings, after all. I cranes my neck back to see where the doggy-boy was now, but he was only just getting into the air while I was a good 250 feet in the air and about a block away. I had time to get away, so I just flew as hard and fast as I could away from there. There was only one of them that I could see, but that doesn't mean that there couldn't be more. It's always best to get as far away from those things as you can, just to be on the safe side.

Once I was about 5 miles away, I slowed down a bit. I wasn't being followed anymore, so why hurry? But now that I had time to think, I wondered, _How __did __they__ find__ me?_ I couldn't come up with any reasonable answer, so I just decided to think about it later. Now that I had sent the email to Holden, Ratchet, Kate and Star, I had nothing to do but to wait until the next day when we would meet again.

I found an empty alleyway to touch back down to earth in, folded my wings back into my shirt, and went back out in the public eye. I was in a shopping center, with a ShopRite and an A.C. Moore. I was looking down at my shoes, trying to avoid being noticed, when I bumped into someone, or really, someones. I looked up to see four girls, who looked to be about my age. They were bickering about who was cuter; Oliver Wood or Draco Malfoy, people I had never heard of. I guess they were guys who went to their school or something. They looked like every-day teenagers. It didn't seem like they posed an immediate threat. Wait, did I really just say that? An immediate threat? Wow, Max must've been getting to me. Max. It just hit me how much I miss her. But now isn't the time to be getting all sentimental. Thinking about Max means being sad, and being sad might just possibly lead to crying, and crying leads to drawing attention, and drawing attention means being locked up in a dog crate. Again.

"Sorry" I mumbled. I glanced up at the person I bumped into, and inwardly gasped. _Oh shit!_ I thought. _How the hell could she be here!_ It was her. The one I needed to leave behind all those years, because she couldn't come with us. One of the School's experiments. One that they left to die when one of their operations went horribly wrong. She was the one that I sat with, holding her hand in the dark when she was trying to recover from their abuse. It was Casey.

"Oh, it's okay." Said Casey. She had barely changed since the last time I saw her all those years ago, with bright blue confident eyes, thin lips set in a determined, hard line. Pale, clear skin, her only blemish a thin jagged scar running from her temple to her jaw. And of course, her beloved _I Believe in Nargles_ shirt that had grown a bit too small for her over the years. I looked into her eyes, trying to see if she remembered me. I assumed so, since it was impossible to forget anything that happened in the School. The Whitecoats made sure of that. But i didn't see anything in her eyes. No flicker of remembrance, no small smile that told me she recognized me.

There was no way that I could tell her that it was me without those other girls she was with thinking I was a freak. Hey speaking of freaks, I wonder if they know about her mutations? They're not exactly obvious, but I suppose that if someone knew her well, they would find out eventually.

I looked back down at my shoes, and tried to move past the group of girls.

"Hey wait!" Casey called to me. I glanced up, trying not to hopeful, and took a few steps back towards her.

"Yeah?" I said quietly.

"Uh, you look familiar. Do I know you from somewhere?"

"Well, um, yeah. Kind of." I replied, my head down again.

She looked startled by this, and she glanced back to make eye contact with another brunette girl wearing a black shirt that had a bulldog with its tongue hanging out, and on the tongue was a British flag. that's right, I know this stuff. The girl looked wary, but nodded towards Casey, as if to give her the go-ahead.

"Fang? Is that you?"

I looked her straight in the eyes, and nodded. A huge smile spread across her face, but soon vanished.

"We need to talk." She demanded grimly.


	6. Chapter 6

Ha! See how I'm not putting a disclaimer? I feel so bad!

Max's POV:

By the time we were back at our "home", the Erasers were about a mile behind us. Since the last time we had encountered them, they had gotten a lot better a flying. Instead of _Remember to flap_, it was _Kill the mutants! Capture the mutants!_ according to Angel. They were also a lot faster. So a mile behind us isn't that much time to get everyone the heck out of there. Angel and I burst into the old bar where we are staying, and I yell at everyone, "Erasers! Coming! Get out! Now!" Everyone's reaction was immediate, except for a certain someone. Namely, the blind pyromaniac chef himself, Iggy. "Iggy! Come on! We need to move!" I scream at him. He looks up to my face, or really I guess where he assumes my face is.

"Why?" he asks calmly, "Why do I need to move? They'll be here any second now. Why not leave me and save yourself?" There's a strange expression on his face now, like halfway between a smile and a grimace. I'm really worried now, why on Earth won't he come with us? Everyone else is already outside, and I suppose Nudge is in charge, her being the oldest and all. But Iggy. I look into his eyes, and I see something that I had never noticed before. Instead of the milky-white haze over a blind person's eyes, his are crystal clear, like the eyes of someone who could see. His eyes looked alive, not cold and dead, like I'm sure they were before. He sees me looking at him, and he says with a voice as cold as ice, "So you noticed. My eyes, I mean. It took you long enough. I've been here for weeks, and you've never even noticed that I'm not Iggy. Yes it's true, you're beloved Iggy has gone away." He stood up as he said this. Iggy had always been a good foot taller that me, and this person, whoever he was, matched his height exactly. I opened my mouth to speak, but then I heard a loud noise outside. Before I could go see what was happening, the stranger spoke again. "That must be them. I've done my job, now it's time for you to die." I looked him hard in the eyes, and then ran off to help my flock.

I arrived outside to see Angel and the others huddled up against a wall, with an Eraser coming even closer by the minute. There were four more just landing, and I saw another two about 20 feet off the ground. That makes seven Erasers. I could take out seven Erasers in my sleep. Why would they send this few? There was only one reason that I could think of. They were different. I don't know how, but there must be a way that these Erasers are superior to the others that the white coats in the past. Well, we were just about to find out. They hadn't seen me yet, so I could sneak out from behind them, and attack them from behind. But whatever my strategy was, I had to put it in action fast because the first Eraser as getting closer and closer to my flock. So I did what we were trained to do. Attack at will. I ran as fast as I could while unfurling my wings, and soon Gazzy, Nudge, and Angel saw me. I could see their eyes light up, and the Eraser walking towards them didn't miss this. He turned around to face me, and snarled. Once I was in within 10 feet of him, he lunged at me, but I was too fast. I flew up into the air, just above his reach.

Obviously, intelligence wasn't on their side because he forgot that he had wings, and was just jumping around looking like an idiot, trying to reach me and take me down. I easily flew over him, and in front of the flock, with my arms outspread to try and protect them as much as I can. The rest of the Erasers were advancing as well. Seven brainless puppy-dogs versus the one who is destined to save the world and her three mutant siblings that aren't really her siblings. This ought to be interesting. We took down the first one easily, just a good kick to the ribs and head, and he was out cold. Next, two of them came at once, but we were ready. Angel and I on one, Gazzy and Nudge on another. Angel used her mind control abilities to make its attacks much weaker, and we could block all of them easily.

Soon, there was only one Eraser left. I thought, _Oh this shouldn't be too hard._ I've never been so wrong in my life. It was a little bigger than the others, and its muscles were probably bigger around than my head. It just stood there, staring at us. I stared back, until I couldn't take it anymore. I charged, and he didn't move an inch. I ran shoulder-first into him, but he just looked down at me and smiled mockingly. I was shocked. Usually, that knocks the breath out of them, at least. But this one, he didn't seem to be affected in the slightest. I jogged back, and tried running into him again. Nothing. I took a few steps back and did a roundhouse kick. He grabbed my foot when it was inches from his face, and flipped me. I toppled to the ground, and I heard something crack. The others could see the pain I was in, but I shook my head, saying, "Don't worry. You guys stay out of this, I don't want any of you to get hurt." They nodded, and took a few steps backwards.

I looked up into the eyes of the Eraser, and he was beaming. How can I beat him if I can't even knock the wind out of him? Then I remembered my scary mind-controlling baby. "Hey Angel," I whispered, "Come here. I'm gonna need you."

Angel walked towards me, her face curious. "What do you need?" she asked. I whispered in her ear. She nodded, and walked back to the others. I took a few steps away, flinching from the pain I was in. It's probably a broken rib or something. That'll take about a week to heal. Oh well. I ran towards the monster once again. But before it could stop me, Angel stepped forward with a look of concentration on her face. I couldn't help but think, _Mind-control powers, activate!_ in my head. The Flyboy only noticed what she was doing once it was too late. He unwillingly let out his wings and flew a good 20 feet into the air. Angel made him slam down, hard, into the ground. He was in pain, but she wasn't finished with him yet. This was repeated a few times, until he was broken. Then, she forced him to keep his hands behind his back while I did a roundhouse kick to the face. You could hear his skull crack, and it looked like he was bout to cry.

Pretty soon, he was as good as dead, slumped against a wall in the nearest alleyway. Then, I remembered Iggy. He was still where I left him, in that little room in the tavern. I walked, or more like limped in, to face him. When I came into the room, he looked up and smiled cruelly. "That was an impressive fight out there. You showed them not to mess with Maximum Ride." I could only stand there, glaring at him.

"Who are you?" I managed to ask eventually.

"No one to be trifled with." He replied simply, and with that, he let out his wings and sped over my head and out the door before I had time to react.

I stood there for a little while, trying to process what happened in the last hour, when Nudge came in behind me. "You were so great, Max, you really showed those Erasers who's boss. And how you kicked that last one right in the face? That was epic! Oh and why was Iggy flying away like that? Is something wrong? I hope not, because that would be bad. And we don't need any more bad things to happen to us. Right, Max?"

I let her continue talking, because I was too exhausted to tell her to stop. Eventually, the other two came in, and I knew that there were questions that I needed to answer. Before they could say anything, I explained everything, especially the conversation between me and the one who was pretending to be Iggy. "And so we need to go find Iggy and get him back." I finished up. I could tell by their faces that they were scared.

"But he could be anywhere, Max!" Said Gazzy.

"I know, honey, but I think I have an idea where he is." I replied.

Angel read my mind, and her eyes widened when she found out where I thought he was.

"No! He can't be there!" She exclaimed, "He just can't!"

"I'm sorry, Angel. But it makes sense. The one who we thought was Iggy said that he was with the Erasers, and said that Iggy had gone away. That's the only place that they could have taken him."

"Okay, what are you guys talking about?" Asked Nudge.

"Umm…" I started, "I think they took Iggy to the School."


	7. Chapter 7

Iggy POV:

Cold.

Cold and black.

It's surrounding me, burrowing deep into me.

The darkness.

_I… need to get out… Find… um, Max. And uh, Gazzy. Yeah, gotta find Gazzy. _I think vaguely. They, whoever "they" are, must have given me drugs, and they're still in action. I try to move my arm when I feel an IV sticking out of my arm, but it takes me a minute to realize that I need to pull it out. When I do, I immediately feel a little better, a little more alert.

I can sense the confinement around me. When I try to reach out my arms, walls stop me, and it's the same for the top. I'm usually very claustrophobic, but not here. Somewhere inside me, I know that this is a dangerous place, but I can't push back the strange feeling of security.

But I don't want to leave. And I know that even if I try, I won't be able to get out of this coffin. It seems like all of my senses have been erased. I can't smell or hear anything. It feels like I've been in there for days, maybe even weeks, but I'm not hungry in the slightest. It's strange. Normally, I would be freaked out in a situation like this, but not now.

Suddenly, the lid of my coffin opens. I can hear hushed voices, and the faint but achingly familiar smell of sanitizer. A smell that is unique to my personal Hell, otherwise known as the School.

"Okay, here's Experiment 229. Remember, Dr. Jasper said to be careful with this one, he said that it's delicate." said a male voice. It takes a minute to process what the man just said. Dr. Jasper. Oh my God, he's here. I thought I'd never see him again once Jeb broke us out of the School all those years ago. Dr. Jasper's the head whitecoat; one of the pioneers of avian-human genetic engineering: the devil himself.

There are footsteps walking out of the room. I sense hands reaching for me, and I instinctively stiffen. The hands take me gently by the shoulders, and lift me into an upward position.

"I hope you plan on cooperating, whatever your name is. Dr. Jasper will be pleased to see that we've gotten you. Alive that is." said a woman's voice. I look up to where I assume her eyes are. "You need to stand up now, okay?" she says. I have no choice but to do what she tells me, because she probably has weapons or something, and I have absolutely nothing.

The woman leads me out a door, and we walk down a hall. It's when we turn into another room that the smell of disinfectant becomes unbearable. I immediately need to gag stop walking farther into the room.

Being exposed to this place again releases a string of memories that I'd try so hard to forget. Every morning, I'd wake up just to be tested on. They'd lead me into a big white room, with an operating table and rows and rows of "tools" that they'd use on us. Dr. Jasper was never actually operating on us. He was sitting in a room adjacent to ours, watching us be tortured from behind a big glass window. Just sitting there, staring at us with dark sunglasses and a mop of dirty blond hair always kept out of his face with a rubber band.

But the most memorable operation of all was the last one. The operation where they stole my vision.

_Flashback_

I woke up to the yells of one of the whitecoats. More, specifically, they were yelling at me.

"Wake up, you retarted pelican!" he screamed as he kicked the bars of my cage. I blinked and then sat up in my dog crate and waited patiently while he opened up the door. I walked out of the cage on my hands and knees, to be met with the dismay of the whitecoat. He grabbed me by my hair, and I winced as he yanked me up. I didn't yell though, because I knew that if I did, it would be met with severe punishment. I had two cracked ribs and a black eye to prove it.

"Move it!" he screamed, "We've got something very special planned for you today," he said much more quietly.

He still had a hold on the back of my hair as he led me out of the room. I managed a quick glance back at the others, and I could see Max, Nudge, Fang, Gazzy, and baby Angel looking worried and watching me. They didn't hear what the man said, but they could tell that something big was going to happen today.

We went down a hall, and turned into a room almost exactly like the others I'd been experimented on in. But in this room, something was different. This time, Dr. Jasper wasn't behind his glass window. This time, he was standing right in front of me. My eyes widened, and he chuckled at my astonishment.

"Why the surprise, Experiment 229? You didn't think I stayed behind that window all day, did you?"

I couldn't respond, because Dr. Jasper being here meant only one thing: This will be very painful.

He beckoned for me to lie down on the operating table, and it took a second for me to move because I was literally frozen with fear. But I managed to do what he asked eventually.

I made my way to the center of the room. Every step I took seemed like a mile. The table seemed so far away. When I finally got there, I looked into Dr. Jasper's eyes. He was smiling. Not the nice kind of smile, like an old cookie-baking granny kind of smile, but this was evil, like an _I-can-hurt-you-all-you-want-and-there's-nothing-you-can-do-about-it _smile. And I was terrified.

"Lie down." he commanded, all of the kindness gone.

I did as he said, and three other whitecoats surrounded me, with all kinds of tools that I had no idea what they did.

"Close your eyes." he demanded, and I obliged.

I slowly slid my lids over my eyes, seeing the bright white of the room for the last time.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: I changed chapter 5 because I forgot to put something in.**

**So go back and reread it before you read this or it won't make sense.**

**At all.**

**Enjoy.**

**And review.**

**Oh by the way, I'm really sorry about not updating sooner.**

**I just write as a spur-of-the-moment thing and I haven't gotten very many inspirations lately.**

**Also I'm super busy.**

**Sorry.**

**But as a reward, I'm giving you a super-longer chapter today.**

**Oh, and I'm going to try a new kind of spacing which hopefully will make it easier to read.**

**And sorry for the OOCness.**

Lena POV:

We, meaning Casey (15 years old), CC (14 years old), Wenny (17 years old), and I (15 years old), walked out of the theatre laughing about our freaky obsessiveness.

"I mean, come on. Oliver Wood is A-M-A-Z-E-I-N-G!" Casey practically yelled, ignoring the strange glances I got from the random people passing by us.

"Um, last time I checked, 'amazing' wasn't spelled with an E," commented Wenny.

"Oh, shut up. I'm a gymnast, not a speller." she said with a smile and a playful shove, "But he is epic, right Lena?"

"Yep! And don't any of you forget it!" I mock threatened, shaking my fist.

"Well, can I just point out that Draco Malfoy is, like, 100 times better?" intervened CC, a proud Feltonist **(A/N: ****Feltonism****- the belief that Tom Felton [Draco Malfoy] is God)**.

We soon reached a lull in the conversation, so we were walking in silence back to the car where Wenny, the only one of us with a license, would drive all of us back to my house.

I looked up to Casey, who had stopped in her tracks, staring with horror and confusion at someone walking in our direction, head down, not appearing to know where he was headed.

**.- ... - / .. ... / - ... .- - / -. ..- -.- ..-.. **I tapped out with my foot to Casey, meaning, _Who is he?_ in Morse code.

We had taught ourselves Morse code in ninth grade, because that was the time when we were obsessed with becoming secret agents when we grew up.

She snapped out of her daze instantly and tapped back rapidly, taking occasional glances up at the person approaching us, **..-. .- -. -. .-.-.- / ..-. .-. - - / - ... . / ... -.-. ... - - .-.. .-.-.- / -.. - / -. - - / - .- -.- . / . -.- . / -.-. - -. - .- -.-. -**, meaning _Fang. From the School. Do not make eye contact._

I gasped, not expectant of this sudden plot-twist.

Fang.

A boy she had told me about ever since we were kids.

His black piercing eyes.

His long shaggy hair always in his face.

His determination to not be broken by the sick experiments of the School.

I could see the panic in her eyes.

I could understand this, but the only thought currently going through my mind was: _What the hell is he doing here?_

Both Casey and I knew that he escaped the School two years before Casey did, but what were the odds that he was here, in a small town an hour away from the famous Big Apple?

Fang was walking even closer, head still down; still unaware of the shock he had put us in.

Wenny and CC had realized that we had stopped walking, and looked back at us expectantly.

I was the only one Casey told about the School and Fang, so we needed it to seem like there was nothing wrong, and we didn't just see one of the only other mutant-freaks in existence and he was walking right toward us.

Casey smiled a what was supposed to be reassuring smile and continued onward, but making a point to not even glance at the figure coming closer and closer to us.

Oh, did I mention that Casey was a mutant, too?

Yeah, she's 19% snake.

That might be a little important to know.

In fact, she was one of the first experiments that the school did, accidentally giving her too much snake DNA.

It was kind of a disaster, and the School left her out on the streets in pain and misery.

Because of the snake genes, Casey had bright intimidating eyes, patches of dry scaly skin all over her body, a serpentine way of moving, extremely flexible muscles, a voice that was soft and smooth that sometimes came out in a hiss, and, oh yeah, she can talk to snakes.

So Casey was wandering the streets, and looking for food in dumpsters and stealing from shops and bakeries when she had to.

This carried on for two years, so she tells me.

Oh, this is the part where I come in.

Every summer, Mom, Dad, Leland (my brother) and I take a trip to somewhere in the world.

A few years ago our destination was Death Valley and all around southern California.

When we were walking around a little Mexican town, we first saw her picking through a dumpster trying to find something that wasn't completely ruined to eat.

She looked at us with gaunt, sunken eyes of blue.

Casey was about 8 at the time: dirty, ragged-looking, and completely abandoned by society.

My family, ever the activists, of course wanted to help her.

Mom and Dad went to a brightly painted food cart down the street and bought a loaf of bread.

We started walking towards Casey with the food, and her eyes lit up, but approached us carefully, the suspicion playing on her face.

Dad held it out for her to take, and she snatched it away wordlessly, trying to cram as much as she could in her mouth at once.

When she had finished her feast, she spoke for the first time throughout this encounter.

"Th-thank you." she whispered. As I later found out, she learned some speech at the School just by listening to what she calls the Whitecoats.

"You… h-h-have been a great help to m-me." she said slowly, pronouncing each syllable with great care, "That h-hasss been the firsst good food I had thisss week."

She said her S's very drawn-out, like a snake.

Heh, I guess that was a bit of foreshadowing for us, wasn't it?

Casey continued to talk, growing more and more confident with each word.

"Th-there were people. Loud, ssscary, hurting people. They did thisss to me. They make me like thisss. Whitecoatsss. They do experimentsss. Make me a sssnake."

I could tell my parents were getting freaked out by now, at what the girl was saying and the tone of sincerity she was speaking it in.

But this whole ordeal intrigued my ten-year-old eyes.

The fact that someone could stay out here, completely alone, without a home.

"Then Whitecoatsss leave me here alone, with no one."

There was no doubt in my parents' mind that she was telling the truth, and we took her into our nearby hotel room.

Eventually, Casey told us everything: from what they did to her at the School, to the other children that were being tested on, to how they abandoned her on the streets two years ago.

Within those weeks, I had become closer to Casey than I ever had to any other person.

We were inseparable, always by each other's side.

And when the time had come to finally leave California, both Leland (who was ten) and I had begged to let Casey come with us back home.

After a long discussion between Mom and Dad, they finally concluded that she was allowed to live with us.

For the first few years Casey was a resident in our house, Mom and Dad home schooled her vigorously to catch her up with me so we could be in the same grade eventually, with luck.

And after five long years of hard work from both Casey and my parents, Casey had entered public school when both of us were going into eighth grade.

She soon fit in with my friends (CC, Wenny, and unmentioned Rebecca) and was one of the top students in our year.

Oh, and she soon trained herself to speak like any other random person would, so there was basically no distinguishing her from the general public (well, besides her scar).

Ok, you're all caught up.

Now back to the plotline!

So as you surely remember, Fang is walking towards us, apparently unaware that one of his only friends in the School is just feet away from him.

Fang was approaching, and Casey decided on a spur-of-the-moment that she would be a genius, a.k.a accidentally-on-purpose bump into him when we passed.

"Sorry" I think he said.

I couldn't be sure because he was so freaking quiet.

Fang glanced up at her, and a vast array of emotions played across his face at once as he recognized her: surprise (obviously), happiness, and confusion.

"Oh, it's okay," said Casey as peppy (or peppily, or… I don't know) as she could muster.

Of course the only reason she couldn't expose herself right there was because of Wenny and CC standing right there. **(A/N: Way to ruin everything, guys ****)**

Fang started to walk away before Casey called out to him, unable to hold it in any longer.

"Hey, wait," she said, her voice slightly trembling.

"Yeah?" he said softly, turning around on the spot and looking into her eyes.

"Uh, you look familiar. Do I know you from somewhere?"

There was the audible hiss in her voice when she pronounced her S's, an absolute sign that she was becoming stressed.

"Well, um, yeah. Kind of." he replied, dropping his head once more.

I could hear the sharp intake of breath coming from both CC and Wenny.

Well of course they didn't expect for this to happen.

No one did.

Casey stiffened at Fang's remark, and glanced back at me for my reaction to all of this.

I nodded, trying to look as encouraging as possible, without looking completely stupid.

She took a deep breath before speaking, and said "Fang? Is that you?"

He nodded gravely.

Her smile was ecstatic, but soon was wiped from her face leaving a look of intensity that looked alien to her usual cheerful composure.

"We need to talk." she insisted seriously.

line break

**30 MINUTES LATER**

Still Lena POV:

So CC and Wenny are pretty much caught up for the most part about who Fang is and why Casey knows him, yada yada yada.

"Umm… So…" I said uncertainly after a long awkward silence, "Wanna go back to my place, then?"

"Uh, sure." said Wenny.

"Shouldn't we call mom and ask if it's okay Fang comes?" interjected Casey.

"Oh, yeah." I said dumbly.

I pulled out my cell phone and dialed my home number. **(A/N: No, I won't put it here for all you creepers out there.)**

"Hello?" my mom said as she picked up the phone.

"Hi, Mom. It's me."

"Oh, hi Lena. What's up?"

"Well is it okay if my friend Fang comes over today also?"

"Is it okay with her parents?" Mom asked.

"Uh," I paused uncertainly for a bit, " yeah, _his_ parents say its okay." I said emphasizing the "his".

"Well, it's fine with me."

"Cool, thanks. We'll be there in about ten minutes."

"Okay, honey. Bye."

"Bye."

I hung up the phone, and nodded at them.

"Okay. It's off to Lena and Casey's house!" cried CC and ran off towards Wenny's silver Toyota Maxima. (Oh yeah, Casey lives at our house since she doesn't really have anywhere else to go. She calls my parents Mom and Dad, too.)

"Shotgun!" I cried out, snickering at the groans of the others.

It was a tight squeeze in the car, with Wenny driving, me in the passenger seat, and Casey, CC, and Fang all smooshed together in the back.

I could tell it was awkward for all three of them.

Fang because he was crammed next to a girl he hadn't seen in years and one who he'd never met before, Casey because she was next to Fang whom she hadn't seen in forever, and CC because Fang was being the Mr. Emo-Perfect that he is and not trying to make any contact with her.

The drive to my house was fifteen minutes of near-silence.

CC kept on trying to make conversation with Fang, but he just shrugged her off whenever she spoke.

At long last, we arrived at mine and Casey's home.

The five of us piled out of the car to be greeted by my dad who was working on fixing our table in the driveway.

"Hey girls." said my dad, looking up from his work.

"Hi David!" CC and Wenny chorused.

"Oh, and who might this be?" asked Dad, glancing over at Fang and wiggling his eyebrows at me.

"Uh, this's Fang." I stammered, "Well, um, he escaped from the School."

My dad's reaction was immediate.

"Fang. Are you okay? Do you need anything?" he inquired while dropping the leg of the table he was previously sanding.

"Um, no. I'm fine. I escaped years ago, and I knew Casey from there." said Fang.

"Oh. Wait, I remember Casey telling us about you." said Dad, some of the urgency disappearing from his voice, "You have, um… the…" he stammered, gesturing towards his back.

"Yeah, I have wings." Fang said gruffly.

"Well, come on inside. You're welcome to stay here as long as you like." said my dad, beaming.

Fang nodded, and Casey led the way inside and to our room.

CC and Wenny had been here many times before, so they flopped down in two beanbag chairs on the floor, and Casey and I sprawled out on our beds.

Fang just kind of stood there awkwardly by the door until I invited him to sit down anywhere.

"So. Let's get down to business!" announced Casey.

"Um, Fang," started Casey, "why exactly are you here on Long Island?"

"Well, you know the Flock that I escaped with?"

She nodded.

"Um, I needed to leave them, for their own safety I mean, and this just seemed like an okay place to go." he said hurriedly.

Suddenly, a knock came from the door along with my mother's voice, "Hey guys, can I come in?"

"Sure." said Wenny, and the door opened.

"Well, David told me about Fang, and I just wanted to say that we're happy to have you here as long as you like, and if you need anything, don't be afraid to ask."

She addressed Fang during that last part.

"Um, thanks… uh…" he stammered.

"You can call me Kirsten." she said warmly.

"Thanks, Kirsten." Fang said with more confidence now.

"Anytime. Call if you need anything."

And with that, she closed the door and there was the sound of footsteps echoing down the hall.

"So Fang," I said, "how long are you planning to stay here?"

"Um, I don't know. I mean there's not really anywhere I need to be," he said.

"So do you want Mom and Dad to enroll you in the school here?" asked Casey.

"Uh, wha…?" he asked very unceremoniously.

"Do you want to go to school here?" she repeated.

Um, I don't thi-" he started.

"Okay then, it's all settled" interrupted Casey.

The only thing I could think was _Oh Lord, this ought to be an interesting next few days._


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: I really don't know anything about the school enrollment process, so I'm just going to guess how it works.**

**Oh, and the story will be mostly Fang and Casey and maybe a little bit of Lena, Wenny, and CC POV for a while.**

**So Max won't be as big in this for the time being.**

**(Honestly, I just don't know what will happen to Max and the others yet.)**

**Look on my profile for full descriptions of the characters in this chapter.**

Fang POV:

Oh my god.

I can't believe I'm actually going to school.

Like, a real school, without freaky mutants (well, not counting Casey or I).

So last night was kind of weird because Casey and Lena's family had decided, without my consent, that I'd be staying with them for a while.

Oh joy.

I tried to explain to them that I couldn't, but they wouldn't hear that.

They're a nice family, don't get me wrong, but they seemed so insistent that I would stay there.

Kirsten went to a lot of trouble to make me feel welcome, and she set up an air mattress in Lena's brother Leland's room.

Leland (or as he prefers: Lee) was seventeen like me, but we had absolutely nothing in common.

It just didn't seem to register to him that _I don't like to talk_.

That night was hard, because it's against my instincts to fall asleep in an unfamiliar place, but I eventually drifted off at about 2:00 in the morning.

The next morning was a Saturday, so no one had to go to school or work that day.

I was awoken abruptly by the sound of running footsteps down the hall, and pots and pans banging in the kitchen.

"Unngghh." I heard coming from Lee, who was half-awake.

The door was unlocked, so I crept out of the room and down the hall to see David in the kitchen making what looked like pancakes.

"Good morning, sunshine!" he said brightly when he noticed me standing there, "The girls are already awake, and you can grab a plate and take as much as you want."

He gestured to a platter overflowing with already made pancakes.

I nodded, and took one of the green plastic plates stacked on the counter and started to fill up my plate.

There was a big wooden table a few feet away, which already seated Casey and Lena.

I sat down a few seats away from them, and began to scarf down the food.

God, I hadn't had decent food in weeks and this was an excellent meal.

Soon, Kirsten and Lee entered the kitchen and began to eat.

Once everyone was finished, Kirsten looked at me and said, "If you're going to go to school here, I can get some forms that we can fill out together so you can attend his school with the girls and Lee."

I nodded, and followed her to a small office with a computer and a desk.

She logged onto the computer and opened up a file that seemed to be the obligatory forms.

The "print" button was pressed, and papers started coming from the printer.

I picked them up, the heat of the printer still radiating off of them, and scanned them quickly.

"Okay, now we can just fill them out and I can fax them to the principal." Kirsten said with a smile.

Name:Fang I hesitated, not sure what to put as my last name.

Eventually, I put down one of the first last names I thought of.

Student Name:FangRide

Age: 17

Date of Birth: May1st,1994

Parent/Guardian Name: KirstenBaker

DavidBaker

Parent/Guardian Signature: KirstenBaker

The forms went on, asking for other information such as height, weight, and if I'd gotten all of my immunizations.

Even though I hadn't actually received all of my vaccines, Kirsten allowed me to write down that I had.

It would be kind of awkward to have a doctor tell me to take off my shirt and there would be a set of wings there, you know?

Eventually, we had finished up the forms, (all seven pages of them) and sent them to the local high school where I would be enrolled along with Casey, Lena, and all of their other friends.

Later that day, the Bakers took me to Target to get some new clothes, since the ones I had worn to their house were the only ones I'd owned.

Of course, my selection consisted of black.

Black shirts, pants, jackets, and a pair of comfortable black sneakers.

I tried to spend as little as possible, since the Bakers were being so generous, accepting me into their home and buying me new clothes.

You might be thinking, _it's so un-Fang-like to be so incautious around people,_ but I've known Casey since I can remember, and, I know it's will sound crazy, but it's like I can sense that the Bakers are good people.

It feels strange trusting people outside of the Flock.

***************************ONE WEEK LATER******************************

Today's my first day of school.

For other (a.k.a normal) kids, the first day of school is usually a source of excitement and anticipation.

But for me, it's just another form of torture.

I mean being stuck in a building with a thousand other people and barely any way of escaping isn't exactly my cup of tea.

I woke up with the sun (about 5:30 for those of you who were wondering) and pulled on my traditional black attire.

My breakfast consisted of some Frosted Mini Wheats and a glass of orange juice.

Soon Kirsten hurried Casey, Lena and I out the door.

The big yellow bus pulled around the curb to pick us up within moments of our arrival.

Casey and Lena hopped on and slid into the first seat behind the white-haired driver.

I sat down in the seat opposite them and waited to arrive at school while the rest of the seats filled up.

A few minutes later, a girl sat down next to me, and started talking rapid-fire.

"Hi my name's Faith. I'm in 12th grade and I play viola and I love musical theatre. Last year the school play was Beauty and the Beast and I was a spoon. It was really fun because you don't need to memorize any lines but you can still be up on stage and sing with everyone else. The most fun part was the 'Be Our Guest' scene because that was one of the only scenes I was in. This year I'm going to try to get a lead role in the play because I really want to go to college and major in music, so that'll look good on a college application. So anyway, you look like you're lonely, so I came to talk to you. I've never seen you around here before so you must be new here. Hey, what's your name anyway?"

She finished up without being out of breath, which is a feat that even Nudge would be proud of.

"Um, my name's Fang." I answered in a voice that sounded really quiet compared with her loud tone of voice.

"Oh, that's a cool name!" she exclaimed.

I finally got a good look at this girl who called herself Faith.

Faith was wearing a neon green shirt that proclaimed, FREE HUGS in bubble letters, blue and pink streaks that stood out in her brown hair, and a big black viola case strapped to her back.

"Hey, what's your schedule?" she asked, obviously curious.

I glanced down at it.

Homeroom: Ms. Riat

First period: American History, Ms. Dermont

Second period: English, Mr. Kinnear

Third period: Choir, Mrs. Lengyel

Fourth period: Lunch

Fifth period: Algebra, Mrs. Tisman

Sixth period: Art, Ms. Tully

Seventh period: French, Madame Makris

Eighth period: Biology, Mr. Pernice

Ninth period: Physical Education, Mr. Vitulano

I repeated it back to her, and she looked pleased.

"Oh, that's so cool! I have lunch, algebra, and PE with you!" she said.

I didn't know how to reply to this, so I just nodded.

We soon arrived at the school, and as we got off the bus, Faith parted me with a wave and a "See you later!"

Casey walked up to me and asked, "Hey, where's your locker?"

"Umm… G147." I said, looking at my schedule.

"Oh, that's upstairs in the S hallway. My locker is in the downstairs S hallway. And what's your advisory?" she informed me, "And what's your homeroom?"

"Ms. Riat in room B15." I said.

"Oh, ok. Um, I think some girls on the volleyball team are in that homeroom. Oh, and Lena's boyfriend Andrew is in that room also! I think you guys would get along. So do you need me to show you where all your classrooms are or do you think you can handle it?"

"Don't worry, I think I've got it all under control."

"Okay. Well see you in later, then."

She headed off in her own direction, and started talking to some people I'd never seen before.

I got my focus back on the tall red brick building in front of me, and started to walk towards it to start my new life as a high school senior.

When I got inside the school, all of my senses went into overdrive.

There were so many freaking people.

And the noise… coming from every direction, leaking from the mouths of the preps, jocks, populars, it was insanity.

But I couldn't show my internal freaking-out.

I just had to act like a normal teenager, and hope to get through the day without alerting anyone of my "condition".

As soon as I got over the immediate intensity of the hallway crowds, I started to make my way to my locker to put away my giant stack of books I was carrying and maybe scope out the scene a little.

Soon, I saw a flight of stairs leading upwards, so I mounted them hoping they would lead me in the right direction.

When I got upstairs, I was startled by a high-pitched screeching noise.

I immediately jumped into fighting stance, expecting the worst, but I soon realized that it was just a girl who had made that sound.

I peered around the corner to see a tall Barbie-thin girl with blonde hair and what must have been a pound of makeup.

The groan I had voiced fortunately wasn't loud enough to reach the ears of the girl and boys rapidly surrounding her.

There were a few like her in every school, and I guess I'll just have to hope that she isn't in any of my classes.

She looked around, obviously pleased with the reaction people had to her, and noticed me in the corner.

And then you know what happened?

That little – I can't say that word in a T rated fic – actually _winked_ at me.

The anger was starting to boil up inside of me, and I needed to walk away before I could do anything hat I would regret later.

I made my way toward the S hallway, where Casey said my locker was, and opened it with the combination of 37-41-12 **(A/N to Casey, Lena and CC: No, that's not my real locker combo. Nice try though :P)**

All of my books fit in the large locker easily and I started to head down to my homeroom, trying to avoid eye contact with anyone.

Homeroom was in the downstairs B hallway, and I arrived there soon.

The advisor, Ms. Riat, noticed me walk in and greeted me with a warm smile.

"Hello. How can I help you?" she asked.

"Um, I'm Fang, the new student." I said quietly.

"Oh, Fang! Welcome to school. Did you find your locker okay?"

I nodded wordlessly.

"Ok. Well we don't have assigned seats in this class, so you can sit where you want."

Once again, I nodded, and took a seat in the back of the classroom.

Soon, people began to trickle in until every seat was full except for the one next to me.

The bell rang, a one-note beep, and a thin boy with brown shaggy hair and an Assassin's Creed shirt came running into the class.

He looked around frantically, and the sat down next to me when he saw the available chair.

"Hey." he said breathlessly, talking to me I assume since there was no one else really around.

I glanced up and nodded my acknowledgement.

"I've never seen you before. New student?" he asked.

I nodded again, and tried to look away to avoid further conversation.

"My name's Andrew. Andrew Russell. You?"

"Fang" I said, finally giving up my bout of silence.

"Oh! Lena told me about you. You're staying with the Bakers, right?" he said.

"Yeah." I replied.

So this was the Andrew that Casey told me about.

He seemed all right, maybe a little talkative, but then again everyone seemed loud compared with moi.

"So." he said.

"So." I said back.

"Do you play Xbox?" he asked.

"No. I've never had one before. I don't know if the Bakers have one…" I trailed off.

"Oh, they have one. What kind of video games do you play?" he inquired.

"Um, I don't really play video games. I'd never had a console." I said.

"Really?" Andrew exclaimed, "You have no idea on what you're missing out on!"

I shrugged, not sure what to say.

"Hey, some friends are coming over after school. You want to come too? I could show you around the neighborhood a little, introduce you to some people." he said.

"Uh…" I started.

"Don't worry, it'll be fun. Like maybe ten people will be there."

"I guess." I finally gave in.

"Cool. My house is a few blocks away so we can walk. I'm sure it's okay with the Bakers since Lena and Casey are coming."

"Okay." I said.

The bell rung then, and everyone rushed out of the classroom to proceed with their day.

"See you later, then," said Andrew.

"Sure, see you." I replied, looking down at my schedule briefly before walking out of the classroom.

The next class was American History, which ought to be boring.

The next two periods passed with a number of uncomfortable introductions and coming into lessons in the middle of chapters, so I mostly just looked out the window or down at my sneakers during class.

I was able to find all of my classrooms fairly well, although I was very late to choir.

How the hell was I supposed to know that the music room was through those double doors leading off through some seemingly obsolete double-doors?

Mrs. Lengyel wasn't too mad, since it was my first day and all, but she wasn't exactly thrilled either.

After an hour of pretending to sing, I had lunch.

When I arrived to the largest room in the school, all of my senses were screaming to get out of that place, just like when I first got to the building but I pushed past those instincts and got a place on the lunch line.

I soon realized that I didn't have money to buy food, so I grumpily say down at a table in the corner of the cafeteria.

It's not like I'd never gone without lunch before, but this option definitely wasn't preferable.

The rest of the day passed in a blur, and I soon found myself walking towards my locker to grab my books for the last time that day.

While I was walking down to the bus ramp, I remembered that I had agreed to go over to that guy Andrew's house.

It was a little difficult to find him among the sea of students, but I picked him out eventually.

Andrew was surrounded by about five or six other people, all of which looked startled to see an emo-looking kid walking towards them.

"Hey, Fang!" said Andrew cheerily when he saw me approaching, "Guys, this is Fang. Fang, this is Chris, Rebecca, Austin, Marco, James, Joe, and Dakota." he said gesturing to the guys and girl around him, "We're just waiting for Lena, CC, Wenny and Casey to get here, then we can leave for my house."

I took note of the guy Chris and the girl Rebecca holding hands, and I stifled a smile.

Casey, Wenny, and CC soon arrived to be followed by Lena.

Andrew greeted Lena with a quick peck on the cheek and the others a smile and nod.

All - what are there, eleven? - of us traveled three blocks in a group to a red brick house I assumed was Andrew's.

"I'm home, Mom!" Andrew called when we stepped inside.

A big dog with its tongue hanging out came bounding down the stairs followed by a tall woman with long brown hair hurried down the stairs, holding the hand of a little girl that looked about five, who was the spitting image of her mother.

"Hi, Andrew. How was school?" she asked, the exhaustion showing in her voice.

"Fine." he said simply, crouching down to give his little sister a fist-bump.

"You've trained her well," said Chris, laughing.

"So do you guys want anything to eat?' asked Mrs. Russell

"Um, anyone want pizza?" Andrew asked his group of friends.

This question was met with an array of "Yes"s and "Me"s and "Totally"s.

"I guess so!" he answered his mother while grabbing his landline and dialing the number to the local pizza place.

Soon, we were seated around his kitchen table eating a cheese pizza pie.

Once we were all done, Dakota stood up and announced dramatically, "To the living room!" and sprinted through a nearby door.

Everyone followed suit to find Dakota starting up an Xbox and popping in the game AC Revelations.

"Oh you have this game?" asked Austin ecstatically.

"Yep. I waited on line at Gamestop overnight to get one of the first copies ever sold." said Andrew proudly.

"That's epic. I think my mom said that she might get it for me for Christmas." said Joe, but no one heard him because they were all too wrapped up in the game being played by Dakota and James.

About 20 minutes later, Andrew said, "Ok, let Fang try. He's never played Xbox before."

This was met with many gasps, and Rebecca pretending to faint from shock.

James handed me the controller, and the shape felt strange in my hands.

"Um, how do I play?" I asked ignorantly.

There was a sharp intake of breath, and Marco saying, "He talks!"

I shot him a dirty look before repeating my question.

"Ok, you move with the left joystick, change your view with the left one, and shoot with the left and right triggers," explained James kindly. **(A/N: For the record, I have no idea if this is right. As sad as it seems, I've never played AC Revelations or Brotherhood or anything.)**

I did as James said, and managed to walk my character around a little without breaking the game.

"Cool. So, wait, you've never played video games before?" asked Joe.

"Nope." I replied.

After about ten minutes of me walking around in the game (and completely failing, might I add), Andrew announced, "Ok. Now it's time to show Fang around the humble town of Sweetbriar!"

Everyone nodded, and we started to head out the door.

"Don't forget your jackets! It's chilly outside," chided Mrs. Russell.

"Mom!" groaned Andrew, but she just gave him a stern look and pointed up the stairs to where his room was.

"Okay. Come on, guys." he said grudgingly, and started to shuffle upstairs.

Once we were all stuffed in his bedroom, there wasn't very much room to move.

A few guys flopped down on the bed, others on chairs, and the few left remained standing.

"Don't get too comfortable." said Andrew, "We're going to leave as soon as I find a stupid jacket."

He soon found a white hoodie in the back of his closet and pulled it on.

"Okay. Let's head out!" he commanded, pointing at the door.

Everyone rushed down the stairs and out the door before Andrew's mom could give us any more reasons to hold up our outing.

When we stepped out into the world, my face was hit with a wall of cold air.

I guess the spring air didn't know that it should be becoming warmer, not cooler.

The eleven of us walked down the street with no conversation aside from a few of the girls.

Soon, we reached a little town-square area, complete with little shops lining the peaceful road.

"This is basically the whole town" informed Chris, gesturing to the square.

Andrew was naming the buildings as we walked by them: "The thrift store, where you can find basically anything obscure you need (I peered into the window only to face a display of bright blue wigs on mannequins); the library, which is slated to close next year because they aren't getting enough funding; the Blue Moon café, for all you're coffee needs; oh, here's what I was looking for."

He stopped walking abruptly and turned into a store titled "Red Mango".

When I stepped into the shop, I was almost blinded by the bright light coming from the red ceiling lamps.

I could here mumbles of "I love this place" and "Awesome" and from Joe, "Epic".

The group took a paper cup each and started to fill it up with frozen yogurt coming from little spouts, and went on to drown their yogurt in ho fudge, and different candies.

So as not to look like a freak, I followed suit and selected the flavor white peach **(A/N: my favorite flavor!)** and put on some strawberries, pieces of pineapple, and small round chocolate candies.

Once everyone had finished creating their fro-yo, we placed them on a scale to be weighed by a preppy blonde girl who worked behind the counter.

"You're total is $24.39!" she said over-enthusiastically, batting her eyelashes up as some of the guys.

Andrew took the bill for all eleven of us, and we ate as we continued down the street.

"So. What do you think of the town, Fang?" Joe asked in between mouthfuls.

"It's fine." I replied a bit more sharply than I intended.

Not looking the least bit unnerved by my reply, Joe nodded and jogged up in front of me to strike up a conversation with Chris.

The day had grown to night while we were in Red Mango.

I took a deep breath, and looked around everyone around me, eating, laughing, and having the times of their lives.

And I was a part of that.

It was strange to feel like this, like I was normal for once, like I was a part of a group.

Never before had I been a part of something like this, besides the Flock, and they were my family.

But these people, they had accepted me so readily when I tap-danced into their lives, and, just for a moment, I was happy where I was and didn't want to leave.

We were walking a little further, when we came across a narrow alleyway on the side of the road, lit by a solitary bulb in a streetlamp.

"This way, guys. It's a shortcut home so we don't need to walk down the highway."

Everyone ducked into the alley and started walking close to one another down the road.

All of a sudden, the bulb flickered and went out completely, leaving us in the pitch-black.

There were nervous laughs come from the guys, and a few shrieks coming from the girls.

I felt someone grab my arm, and I could just barely make out the silhouette of CC.

"Sorry." she whispered, loosening her iron grip.

The group kept shuffling down the street, keeping closer than ever to each other.

When we finally emerged from the darkness to one of the main roads, I could instantly tell that something was amiss.

I glanced back at everyone else, and did a head count.

There were nine people, and including myself ten.

My eyes widened in surprise and I recounted.

Yep, there were definitely ten of us.

Who was missing?

I turned around to see if another one of my newfound friends was running towards us, but there was none.

Then suddenly, it hit me.

"Hey guys, where's Lena?" I asked, the panic showing in my voice.

"What do you-" Andrew started, and then stopped short when he realized that I was right.

"Lena?" he called out, his voice echoing across the walls of the silent shops lining the road.

"Lena, if this is some kind of joke…" he trailed off, the reality finally sinking in.

"Where is she?" he demanded, the pure anger and determination blazing in his eyes.

So I guess everyone really _does_ have a bad side.

"Wait, hold on…" I said; my raptor-vision fixed on a point in the distance, "No… It can't be…"

There, running on the top of a far-away building, was the furry outline of what I know to be one of the devil's minions, none other than an Eraser.

And you know what?

That Eraser was carrying Lena as if it was no effort, with her petite body slung over his broad shoulder and her mouth duct taped shut.

"God dammit!" I yelled into the night, "How the hell can they be here?"

"What is it? Where is she?" Andrew asked again, now the anger replaced with sorrow and frustration.

I watched as the Eraser disappeared over the horizon, and told Andrew, "She's gone. We can't get her back."

"What do you mean? Of course we can get her! Whoever it is, I can take them," he practically yelled, jumping into a fighting stance.

"No. It's no hope. They've taken her. I'm really sorry, but people can't escape from there." I said, still trying to accept the reality of this situation.

Andrew stood there for a minute, and finally asked, "So I'll never see her again?" in a small voice, that seemed so defeated, so hopeless, that I could only pity him when I shook my head.

He closed his eyes and tightened his lips into a firm line so I could tell than he was trying to hold back tears.

Chris stepped forward, and gently placed a hand on his shoulder to try and calm him.

Four of the five girls were clinging to one another, silently weeping, and he fifth one, the one named Rebecca, just stood there with a hard, cold, stone but curious face and looked me in the eyes, as if trying to figure out who I was.

I immediately broke here gaze by looking down at my shoes and putting on my mute façade.

That night, we all returned to Andrew's house without conversation, and when his mother asked what was wrong, we all ignored here and headed up to Andrew's room morosely.

We sat in silence until Andrew finally said, "Next week was our four-year anniversary. I was going to give her my signed Alex Rodriguez jersey… the one that she loved so much."

Everyone had their heads bowed in silence for Lena and her memory for the rest of the night.


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: Hey, sorry I didn't update on Sunday.**

**I was on vacation, so I didn't have my computer with me.**

**Oh, and Happy New Year/Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanza/(Insert December Holiday Here)**

**So, on with the story!**

Andrew POV:

The next few weeks came by in a blur of unemotional haze.

I couldn't force myself to smile, and everything I ate was bland and unappealing.

Now that... She... Was gone, everything seemed meaningless.

I guess it hadn't sunk in yet, not really, that Lena was gone forever.

And the worst part is- in my opinion- that Fang refused to tell me what had happened to her.

He said that it wouldn't do any good: that it wouldn't bring her back with us.

But, like everyone after they lose someone, I continued on with my life even though there seemed to be a dark veil shadowing any happiness from coming my way.

It was a week after they, whoever they are, took her.

I went to school that day, like every other day.

For once I wasn't late to homeroom like I normally was, since I didn't need to wait for Lena by her locker.

My primary seat next to Fang was waiting, so I lugged my binders over there.

Fang gave me a curt nod, remaining unsurprisingly mute.

I gave a meager smile back, not attempting to strike up a conversation.

After what seemed like hours, homeroom finally ended and I trudged over to my first class of the day, American History.

There was free seating in this class, so I claimed a seat in the back by the large window overlooking the courtyard.

The class began as my 75-ish professor with long wild grey hair stepped to the front of the room and began to lecture us on the effects of Triangle Trade on the thirteen Colonies' relationship with England.

Woo hoo.

About ten minutes into the lecture, Fang opened the door slowly and strode into class ignoring the looks he was getting from our classmates.

Ms. Dermont stopped talking long enough to fill out a pink detention slip and hand it to Fang.

"Tardiness is not accepted here." she croaked, her eyes narrowing.

Fang nodded silently (unsurprising) and took the open seat next to me.

He glanced unemotionally down at the detention pass to register the severity of the punishment.

I looked down over his shoulder at the paper to see that he was to stay after school tomorrow and the next day, to help Ms. Dermont file papers and clean the classroom.

Usually lateness only results in a day's detention, two if the teacher was in a bad mood, and today Ms. Dermont wasn't at her happiest.

After glaring at Fang one last time, she continued to lecture on and on.

Finally, the class ended and I sped off to biology.

We were learning about the endocrine system, which is like glands and stuff.

I spent the whole class looking out the window and sometimes doodling.

No one pays attention in biology, even though Mr. Pernice is a good teacher.

I mean, would a lame teacher make references to the movie The Princess Bride?

Yeah, didn't think so.

I think during that class we were doing a review for the test we were going to take the next day.

Period two dragged on and on as well, but the metallic beep of the bell finally released me so I could head on out to choir.

I'm in the baritone section so I sang mostly harmonies in songs.

The empty black plastic chair where Lena always sat taunted me, like it wanted to emphasize the fact that she was ripped from us without warning.

Rebecca, Casey, and CC sat around Lena's empty seat, murmuring quietly to one another.

The class started, and Mrs. Lengyel stepped out in front of the students.

We sang our usual warm-ups, song) like the sol fedge (or however you spell it) backwards and forwards, and then we started to work on one of our concert songs, The Carrion Crow.

It's a weird song about a guy that wants to shoot a crow, but then shoots his pig instead.

When I read over the lyrics, the first thing I thought was, _Karma!_

After Mrs. Lengyel went over the Soprano part with them, she came to teach the Baritones the harmony to it.

She sang our part, and we repeated it back to her.

Once we had perfected those few measures, she walked over to the Altos and taught them their part and we were free to talk quietly.

I sat there, not really feeling like talking to anybody, when Fang pulls a chair up next to me and begins to speak in a rapid whisper.

"I've been thinking, and you have a right to know what happened to her." he said.

I looked up at him inquisitorially.

"You're not going to believe me, but you need to trust that I'm not lying."

I nodded to show that I understood.

After hours of deliberation every night for three weeks about who took her and why they did it, I was finally going find out.

"There's a place called The School. It's a laboratory where they conduct experiments. Sick, twisted experiments. They, well, they put animal DNA into humans to see what it does. They have these part-human, part-wolf mutants that we call Erasers, that they made to do their bidding for them. That's who took Lena. I don't know, but I'm pretty sure that they're going to try to do something on her."

I looked down at my feet, trying to absorb the information that had just been disclosed to me.

All I could think was: _why couldn't it have been me?_

"Thank you. For telling me what happened." I murmured.

Fang nodded, and headed back over to his seat.

Once Mrs. Lengyel was finished with the Altos, she stood in front and center of the chorus, and raised her conductor's baton.

With a flick of her wrist, she began to conduct and we started to sing.

The song ended, the final chords hanging in the air, at first echoing powerfully around the room, then eventually subsiding to a tiny whisper.

The choral conductor smiled contently as the bell rang to go into our next period class.

I had lunch next, along with Fang, Rebecca, Chris, James, and Joe.

The choir room was just down the hall from the cafeteria, so I was usually one of the first to show up.

I dropped my books down by our usual table by the door leading to the parking lot, and hurried into the lunch line.

The entrée for that day was pizza, so I grabbed a slice along with a water bottle and went on to the cash register.

"Your total will be $3.14." said the 50-ish lunch lady.

I nodded, fishing out my wallet from my pocket.

I opened it up to try to find a five-dollar bill.

Once I had found the money I took it out of the wallet too quickly, knocking some papers to the ground.

The lunch lady stood there impatiently while I scrambled around trying to collect them again.

When I picked up the last one, my breath caught in my throat.

It was the picture of Lena and I at a Yankees game last summer.

She looked so happy, so carefree, and so unaware of the horrible fate she was destined to.

Apparently I had been sitting on the floor of the cafeteria for a while, since the woman behind the cash register suddenly said, "Are you gonna pay or not, kid?"

"What? Oh, um, yeah. Sorry." I stuttered as I handed her the five and took my lunch and walked away still staring at the picture, not waiting for my change.

James, Chris, and Rebecca were already seated at the table by the time I had gotten there.

"Hey Andrew." said Chris softly.

They had all been a little more quiet and careful around me since the night it happened.

"Hi." I managed to say.

The bell rang with a metallic beep, and a bunch of freshmen hurried into the cafeteria at the last minute and sat down with their tiny friends.

I began to eat in silence while the others talked to one another.

"So do you guys want to all hang out tonight?" asked Chris conversationally.

"I think I'm free." said James.

"Sure. It's not like I have anything better to do." responded Rebecca, only half-joking.

"What about you, Andrew?" asked Chris, since I'd zoned out.

"Um, ok. Sure." I replied.

He looked concerned for me, but didn't say anything else.

Then, Joe and Fang came up behind us.

"Hey. Sorry we're late, but Mrs. Tully asked me to stay late after art and help put away the paintbrushes and then my locker wouldn't open, so Fang came and helped me, but then I accidentally dropped my books in the hall and the papers went everywhere so we needed to pick those up, and then we saw the principal coming so we needed to run so she wouldn't see us 'cause then we'd get detention and since Fang already has two from Ms. Dermont that wouldn't be good, but now we're here and we're not too late, are we?" said Joe, panting and out of breath.

Fang just stood there silently like usual.

"Hey, do you guys want to come over after school? We're just going to hang out around town.

"Sure, that'd be epic! We haven't all gotten together for a while; ever since-" started Joe, but stopped himself before he could finish the sentence.

"Yeah." Fang replied simply with a nod as he and Joe headed off to the lunch line.

Ok, I'm going out tonight.

I guess it'll be good to get out a little bit.

Ever since last week, I've been avoiding my friends a little bit and have been coming straight home after school.

Maybe tonight will take my mind off the past events of this week.

**8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8*8**

The End Of Ninth Period:

A girl with a high ponytail named Alexis served the volleyball over the net and it successfully went over to be bumped by Lucas, a tall dark-haired boy.

The volley continued on until the white ball was hurtling straight at me and I, not exactly being a volleyball prodigy, closed my eyes and did some kind of strange thrust forward with my hands, hoping to connect them with the ball.

I succeeded in hitting the ball, but it did a pathetic little bounce and rolled under the net to the opposing team's half of the court.

I was perfectly aware of the disapproving looks I was getting from my teammates and the snickers coming from the other team, but I honestly didn't give a rat's ass.

The other team rotated their positions and the ball was about to be served by Lena's friend, Casey, when the gym teacher, Mr. Phelan, barked out, "You pansies were almost decent today. You still have a lot to work on, but slightly better than that crap you showed me the first day of this unit. Dismissed!"

Mr. Phelan used to be a drill sergeant in the army, and he came to Sweetbriar High School as kind of a retirement from the battlefield.

All of the students rushed off of the volleyball courts with looks of relief on their faces.

I headed into the locker room along with all of the other guys in my class and began to change into my normal clothes.

The lock on my locker opened with a faint _click_ as I put in the combination.

I took off my gym shirt and replaced it with the blue tee shirt I wore that day to school, and threw the gym shirt into my gym locker.

I did the same with my soccer shorts and jeans, when I took out the books I had taken to gym (you never know when Mr. Phelan will give a pop quiz) and slammed my blue metal locker.

The final bell of the day rang and everyone stampeded out of the locker room like a herd of cattle.

My regular school locker awaited me as I headed upstairs to the A hallway.

I saw my 10th grade Spanish professor and greeted her.

"Hola, señora." I said to her.

"Hola Andrew." she replied warmly, "¿Cómo estás?"

"Estoy bien, gracias." I answered.

She nodded, and I continued on to my locker down the hall.

Once I got there, I opened it and took out my books for every other class to be met by Chris.

"Hey Andrew. So do you want to come on my bus, and then we could go out later? Almost everyone else is coming on my bus too, even Fang."

"Um, sure." I said, "Let me just tell my mom."

"Cool, okay. I'll meet you and everyone else on the bus ramp."

I nodded, and took out my cell phone from my messenger bag.

I pulled up the messaging screen, and shot my mom a quick text: _Hey, I'm going over to Chris's house after school and then we're going out. I won't be home until like 10 tonight._

My phone was put in my pocket and Chris and I went on our merry way.

Once we were at the bus ramp, Joe, CC, and Wenny came up to us.

"Salutations." said Joe, waving.

"Hey guys! What's up?' said CC.

"Nothing much, CC. You?" replied Chris.

It's all good." she answered.

"So we're still waiting for Rebecca, James, Austin, Marco, Fang, and Dakota," remarked Wenny.

Just as she said that Austin, Rebecca, and Dakota came wandering up to us.

"Hey." said Rebecca grimly.

I think she was one of the most affected by Lena's disappearance because she was close to her and also had no idea why Lena was taken.

In a few minutes, the rest of our crew came to us and we boarded Chris's bus.

It was extremely loud and filled with students, but we managed to find a few empty seats in the back so we could all sit together.

Chris, Rebecca sat in the back on the right, Casey and Wenny on the left, CC and Fang in front of them, Marco and James next to us, and Austin, Dakota and I in the two seats in front of them.

The yellow bus soon parted from Sweetbriar High School and we were on our way to Chris's house.

I heard the familiar tune of the Mario theme song: my message tone.

I pulled my iPhone out of my pocket and saw that I had a message from my mom.

_Okay, that's fine. Just remember that your curfew is 10:30. Have fun, sweetie._

My phone went back into my pocket and I jumped into the conversation my friends were having about light sabers from Star Wars.

The school bus soon turned onto a shady road with lots of trees and green lawns, and stopped at the corner.

"Okay, everyone off!" Chris commanded to us.

We stepped outside, and Chris and a few other boys lead the way to a cream-colored house with a dark-brown shingled roof.

Chris went over to a door that lead to a garage and brought out a shiny silver key.

He unlocked the front door and put the key back in the garage while the rest of us went into his house.

His house had mainly white walls, with big windows on every wall.

It gave the impression of being really open and relaxing.

A woman that looked to be about 25 with her hair dyed all different crazy colors and giant "hipster" glasses walked past us and gave us one of those weird head-jerk-nod things.

"Hey Jillian." said a few of my friends.

Jillian was Chris's sister, and was a junior at Yale University who had come home for Spring Break.

A tall woman with long brown hair, green eyes, and jeans and a tee shirt on came into the foyer where we were all standing.

"Hey guys. How was school?" she asked.

There were mumbles of it being fine when Chris came into the house behind us.

"Mom, all of us are going out tonight, okay?" Chris informed his mother.

"Sure, that's fine. Did everyone's parents say it was okay?"

There were nods from everyone.

We hung out at Chris's house, the ten of us, for about half an hour, doing homework and just talking.

Eventually, we all decided that we should go out before it got too late.

"Okay, let's get out of here." Chris announced, starting to walk towards his front door.

"Where are we headed?" asked Rebecca, stepping up next to Chris.

"I don't know, just out." he responded, giving her a sad little smile.

She looked up at him as if seeing him for the first time, nodded, and continued to walk out the door, waiting for the rest of us to follow.

The night air was cold as we walked along the cobblestone streets lined with the shops I had known for all of my life.

But now, the tiny orange bulbs in the buildings illuminating the window displays seemed foreign to me.

I felt helpless, hopeless, like there was no way to recover.

I never even got to say goodbye to her.

During her last day with us, I gave her a peck on the cheek.

At that time, I had no idea that it would be our last kiss.

I stopped in the middle of the sidewalk, breathing heavily and trying to calm myself.

No way was I going to cry.

There was Dakota's voice coming from behind me, "Andrew, are you okay?"

I took one final breath and turned around to face him, wearing a false smile upon my face.

"Yeah, I was just… um, looking in the window of that store." I lied lamely, gesturing towards the nearest shop window that happened to be a K-Mart.

He didn't look convinced, but gave an uncommitted shrug and hurried to catch up with the rest of the group, which had walked ahead.

"Pull yourself together, Andrew." I whispered to myself, standing up straight and jogging up to meet my friends, who had decided in my absence to visit the Blue Moon café.

The coffee shop was just a block away, so we got there in about five minutes.

I pushed open the door of the café to be met with a surge of warm air wrapping its fingers around me, encasing me with the scent of coffee beans and vanilla.

There was music softly playing in the background, and people were sitting sporadically at small tables, sipping drinks, quietly chatting, or typing on laptops.

A bell on the oak door tinkled as the rest of my friends entered the subdued café.

We made our way to the counter to be greeted by a barrista with thick black curls and long lashes.

"How could I help you?" she asked, sticking out her chest a little bit more and batting her eyelashes when she saw us.

This really ticked me off.

But of course I didn't do anything rash and just stuck to my mild-mannered self as usual.

"Hey, could we get an espresso," started Chris.

"And a vanilla cappuccino," continued Marco.

"And a coffee," said Casey.

"And another coffee," said James.

"And a mochaccino," said Wenny.

We all paused awkwardly for a second, because usually when we go out for coffees this is when Lena orders, but after a second of hesitation we all start up our old rhythm again.

"And a hazelnut cappaccino," continued Dakota.

"And another espresso," said Rebecca.

"And a macchiato," said CC.

"And an Irish coffee," I said.

"And a hot chocolate." finished Joe with a sheepish grin.

The waitress looked overwhelmed for a second, but soon snapped out of it and gave Chris and I a flirty grin as she walked off to fill our orders.

Soon we were all seated around three tables with our hot drinks in hand, just chatting about nothing in particular.

Everyone knew the one topic we all desperately wanted to discuss, but none of us had the nerve to bring it up.

Throughout the very interesting conversation we were having about how to get the loudest _pop_ when you pop bubble wrap, Joe, usually perky and talkative, remained silent with a thoughtful yet sad look on his face.

During a lull in the conversation, Joe took a deep breath and began to speak.

"Hey guys, can I tell you something?" he asked slowly, as if it was going against his better judgment to be speaking right now.

We all nodded with confused looks on our faces, because I had never seen Joe this serious the whole eight years I had known him.

"So, um," he began to say, seeming nervous and reluctant, "well, I'm gay."

He looked up at us with the eyes of a defeated man, as if he put us in power of him and we had control of him.

We were all silent for a moment, and then Rebecca reached across the table to put her hand on his shoulder.

One by one, we all reached over to him, with a reassuring squeeze of his arm and a supporting smile.

"We will always be here for you," murmured Chris, giving a resolute nod.

I could see a grin broadening over his face, and small droplets of moisture staring to form in his chocolate eyes.

"Thank you." he whispered to all of us.

It was obvious that it had been hard for him to tell us this, but he seemed overjoyed at the fact that we accepted him for who he was.

After everyone had finished their drinks, we opened the door and headed out into the pitch-black night.

We made sure not to go anywhere near the side street that we had walked down three weeks ago.

I pulled out my iPhone to check the time.

_8:42 _it blinked up at me.

There was still over an hour before I had to be home.

Soon Chris's house was in view.

"Do you guys want to hang out here until your curfew?" Chris asked us.

We all agreed because we all had the same curfew, give or take a few minutes.

"Oh, if anyone needs a ride home, I can drive you, since I don't need to be home until eleven," said Wenny.

Dakota, CC, and I all accepted her offer, and the ten of us, led by Chris, climbed the stairs to the latter's room.

The green walls were covered with posters of video games like Call of Duty and Modern Warfare 3, and a television and Xbox were in the corner.

There were cushions scattered around the floor, and we all found a seat either in the beanbags or the cushions.

There wasn't really anything to talk bout, until Fang started to speak.

"There's something you all should know," came his deep voice.

We were all startled because he so rarely speaks, but none of us spoke as he retold them what he told me today during choir practice.

A stunned silence filled the room, until CC finally said, "So she could still be alive?"

Fang nodded, and continued.

"She probably still is alive. It's only been three weeks. But with the things they do there, death is probably preferable."

Fang looked at Casey, and a look of pure terror was washed across her face.

She closed her eyes, and was shaking her head back and forth slowly, as if she couldn't believe what she heard.

Casey POV:

No.

It can't be.

Not the School, not Lena.

I told her stories of what they did there, but we never expected her to be taken.

Why, though?

Why would they take Lena of all people?

Oh god, I know she's strong and acts tough on the outside, but it's impossible not to be broken by their sick experiments.

But now that she's in their grasp, I can only hope that the torture they'll put her through isn't fatal.

There is still a chance, however slim it may be, that we could see her again.

I mean, I got out of the School alive, and so did Fang and his "flock".

But for now, all we can do is hope.

Hope that she's strong enough to face them with the determination we all love so much about her.

Hope that we're strong enough to live in constant fear that she could be in pain, to go on without her presence by our side to guide and support us.

And maybe, if there really is someone up there in the sky listening to us, maybe they will bring Lena back to us, safe and whole.


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: Just to clear some stuff up, Casey and Lena know that Fang has wings, but no one else does.**

**When Casey was explaining everything when they first met Fang, she "accidentally" left out the part about wings.**

**Read and review!**

Lena POV:

We were walking through some old alleyway to get back to Andrew's house so we wouldn't need to walk along the highway.

I was heading up the rear of the group, making sure no one like tripped or anything.

All of a sudden, the single bulb lighting the street flickered and then went out, leaving us in total darkness.

I heard something behind me, but just figured it was a rat or something scrambling over the garbage strewn along the road.

Then, the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end, and I heard heavy, labored breathing right next to my ear.

No one in my group would ever breathe like that and anyway, all of them were up ahead of me.

Before I could make a sound, there was a cold hand on my shoulder and a gag over my mouth so I couldn't speak.

My wrists and ankles were bound with thick pieces of rope so I couldn't really move, no matter ho hard I tried.

Soon I was shoved in a sack and bumped around quite a lot.

I went into panic mode, trying to bite through the gag and shaking off my ropes, but it was obviously ineffective.

Whoever had done this to me picked me up and started carrying me.

Soon, they shoved me into the back of what seemed like a big car or truck.

The engine roared to life and we were tearing down the streets into the night, getting farther away from my friends every second.

Somehow, I actually fell asleep during the car trip so I have no idea how long the ride was.

I awoke to find my arms and legs strapped down to a bed.

There was the strong scent of chemicals and sanitizers, so much that I almost gagged.

My eyes opened, and I was shocked with the sudden brightness.

All I could see was whiteness and blurry outlines of flesh-colored masses.

I soon adjusted to the light and saw about five or six people in white lab coats staring at me intently, their pens poised over sheets of paper ready to begin furiously scribbling down notes at any second.

"It's awake!" a man with a heavy European accent cried.

_It?_ I thought, _I am not an "it"!_

I was about to voice my opinion when a woman with mocha skin and rectangular glasses walks over to me and starts to speak, a cruel smirk adorning her face the entire time.

"Follow me, we will begin the first step in this experiment that will benefit all of human kind."

The straps on my wrists and ankles receded into the gurney I was strapped to, and the woman that spoke to me was waiting by a white door.

I hesitated for a moment.

All of this seemed so familiar.

But it was strange: I knew that this had never happened to me before, but it was like someone had told me about this lace before.

The lab coats, the people that seemed psychotic, the blinding white of the room.

And then it hit me.

Someone _had_ told me about this before.

I was in the School.

For some strange reason, I wasn't scared.

They were just people, no matter how many of them there were, and we were equal.

If it came down to it and I needed to fight my way out of this place, I would try and I might succeed.

Also, it doesn't hurt to have a black belt in karate like I do.

The woman was still standing there, becoming more and more impatient while the seconds ticked by.

Eventually, I decided to go with her.

She nodded towards me and turned to walk down the hall, her heels clicking against the linoleum floor.

I followed her, keeping my guard up.

These people were not to be trusted, and you never knew when they might try something on you.

Soon the woman stopped at a door that looked like every other in the long winding hallway.

She opened the door for me and when I stepped inside, she shut it behind me, not entering the room herself.

I looked around the room and it seemed like an office like any other.

There was a window to the left with the blinds drawn, a potted plant in the corner, and a big wooden desk with two folding chairs on my side, and a big high-backed leather chair on the other side.

But what concerned me most was the person sitting behind the desk.

He had long dirty blond hair pulled back with a rubber band, sunglasses that completely obscured his eyes, and some stubble that went along with not shaving for a few days.

"Hello." he said, smiling in a way that I think was supposed to be charming, "My name is Dr. Jasper, and I am the head of this branch of Itex, known as the School. You are probably very confused right now. I know I would be. Here, have a seat." he said, gesturing to the metal folding chairs in front of his desk.

I walked forward and sat down in one of the chairs, too scared to disobey him.

"Excellent. Now, let me explain what is happening to you. You were chosen to partake in an experiment that will change modern science. Here, we will give you abilities that you wouldn't have imagined in your wildest dreams. As well as that, we will also enhance those abilities that you already have. And how will we do that, exactly?"

He paused for dramatic effect.

I knew what he was going to say next, but I still didn't want to hear it.

It would seem like if he said it, it would confirm everything.

Make it impossible for this all just to be a bad dream.

Still, though, he continued on.

"Animal DNA!" he announced.

He made it sound as if infusing me with animal DNA was something to be celebrated, not something to be written about in sci-fi novels.

He paused to see my reaction, but I kept my face blank and impassive.

I would not give him the satisfaction of knowing that he was getting to me.

"Now, recently we have gotten many different samples of animal DNA, all of which we are equally excited to experiment with, so we will give you the choice of which animal tissue we will infuse you with!"

The task to keep myself looking unemotional became more and more of a struggle as my life kept on getting weirder and weirder.

"I have put together a slideshow on all of the different animals you could chose from, and the benefits each one will give you." he said perkily.

I couldn't hold my tongue when I blurted out, "You have got to be kidding me. A slideshow? Really? Not very threatening, Dr. J…"

There was a little shock on his face for a second before he returned to his mask of calmness and control.

"Yes, my partner and I have come to the agreement that a slideshow is the best way to express the different ideas to the mind of a child." he said, an edge of steel coming into his voice.

I rolled my eyes despite the circumstances and let him continue.

Dr. Jasper pulled down a big white screen behind his desk and went to the back of the room to set up a projector.

I stayed seated in my chair because I really didn't think that he would be the kind of person to attack me from behind.

He seemed like someone who would be as direct and showy as possible when hurting you.

The lights in the office turned off, the projector clicked on and the movie began.

A light blue background came on with a picture of an animal on it, a crocodile.

There was a list of "benefits" of getting the crocodile DNA, and then after I read all of them another animal came on.

A chicken.

No way in hell was I going to be implanted with chicken genes.

The list of animals went on and on, and total there were about ten.

Finally the slideshow was over, and Dr. Jasper left his post in the back of the room to turn the lights on again.

"So what did you think?" he asked flashing me another one of his failed smiles.

I was speechless.

Casey told me what they did here, and that she got of lucky having only a hiss and venom in her fingernails and teeth.

And he was asking me what animal I wanted to have put in me.

This was insane.

He opened a drawer in his desk and pulled out a sheet of paper.

When he handed it to me, I could see his hands.

They were heavily scarred and looked to be much older than he was.

I knew that horrible things had been done with those hands.

Reluctantly, I took the paper he was offering and scanned it quickly.

It looked like a list of every animal I just saw about, with a little box next to each name.

"Check off the one you want to be." he said, handing me one of those mini pencils you find on the golf courses.

The list said:

-Nile Crocodile

-Australorp Chicken

-Black Rhinoceros

-Bengal Tiger

-Humpback Whale

-Capuchin Monkey

-Asian Elephant

-Musk Ox

-Nigerian Giraffe

He looked expectantly at me, waiting for me to check off one of the boxes.

When I made no movement to do so, I could see the frustration in his eyes, and I couldn't help but to smirk.

With a sigh, he took the paper and pencil from me and said, "Fine. If you are going to be difficult, then so be it. We can do anything we want to you now, things that your human mind can't imagine."

He rose from his chair and gestured for me to leave his office.

As I was walking out of the room, he said to me, "The process begins tomorrow. Be ready."

The same woman as before was waiting for me outside of the room, and this time she was accompanied by two monsters.

They were big furry beasts that looked to be part human, part wolf.

These must be the Erasers Casey told me about.

She told me all they can do, and how they were the Whitecoats' minions.

Each of them was carrying a pistol, one that looked like it could shoot me dead easily.

The woman smirked conceitedly and started to walk down the hall to the room I woke up in.

We were passing so many doors I couldn't keep track of them.

I lost count at about twenty.

Finally she stopped at one that looked identical to the others and opened it.

I was hit by the now-familiar scent of sanitizer and chemicals, and walked in on account of me now being held at gunpoint by the two Erasers.

They led me over to the same hospital gurney and I lay down.

The straps closed over my arms and legs again so I couldn't move.

Suddenly, one of the Whitecoats came over to me with another gun.

He held it to my neck, and fired once. **(A/N: Don't worry, it was just tranquilizer.)**

I felt a sharp and immediate pain where he shot me, but then it slowly became a low, dull sensation.

Everything felt slower, even my tempo of breathing.

I felt calm, at peace, like I could fall asleep at any minute.

Soon, the sedative went into full effect and I drifted off to be riddled with nightmares.

**Dream:**

_I was at home, on my bed with Casey._

_We were talking about school _(the real kind)_ and our friends._

_Nothing important really, it was just nice to spend some time with my friend._

"_Hey, Lena!" I heard Andrew call._

_I opened the door of my room and went into the kitchen where I heard his voice._

_I looked around, not seeing anything, until my gaze went into the corner of the room._

_There was Andrew, sitting on the floor, obviously in pain._

_I walked over to try to find out what was wrong, but at my touch he transformed._

_He turned into an eight-foot-tall Eraser, with the gun, and the teeth, and the fur._

_It growled and started to raise its gun._

_Right before it was about to pull the trigger, I was somewhere else._

_I used to come here with my parents when I was a little girl._

_It was a beach, with clear blue waters, litter-free sand, and a forest in the distance._

_Rebecca, CC, Wenny, and James were there._

_They were all running towards me, with frightened expressions on their faces._

_When I looked closer, I saw that they were being chased._

_Chased by people wearing white lab coats, led by Dr. Jasper._

_Dr. J was carrying a big board that I recognized to be the slideshow that I watched earlier that day._

_The Whitecoats were carrying saws and needles and surgical masks._

_I started to run away from them too, but they all had super-human speed._

_The woman with the mocha skin soon was just jogging along beside me, and when she reached out to touch my shoulder I was teleported again._

_This time, I was in the same room I woke up in._

_I was strapped to an operating table, with six or seven Whitecoats surrounding me._

_But their lab coats weren't pure white._

_This time, they were covered with red stains that were unmistakably blood._

_Dr. Jasper pushed his way to the front of the crowd and just stood there, staring at me from behind his sunglasses._

_All of a sudden, he raised his hand and removed his sunglasses to reveal eyes of pure black that seemed to hold all of the hatred of the world._

_After a minute more of staring at me, his face broke into a broad grin._

_He raised his other hand, and in it was a saw._

_Dr. Jasper licked his lips, and brought the saw down to my stomach._

_He seemed unaffected by my screams, and slowly started bringing the weapon back and forth, back and forth._

_There was an explosion of pain in my abdomen, so that my screams faltered and became small whimpers of protest, too weak to do anything else._

_Then, I wasn't in myself anymore._

_It was like I was above both of us, watching down from above._

_And he began to laugh._

_Not the stereotypical bad-guy laugh like mwahahaha, but just a laugh like he was getting pure enjoyment on cutting me apart._

_Soon, a glassy look covered my eyes, and I knew that he had drained the life out of me._

I woke with a start, still trembling from the dream.

_It was just a dream, it was just a dream_, I told myself over and over again.

The room was dark, so I assumed it was night.

There was complete silence in the room aside from my heavy, ragged breathing.

I reached up to wipe the sweat from my forehead and cheeks.

Wait a minute… I'm not strapped down.

Why on earth would they un-strap me?

I tried to move my legs, and it turned out they weren't stuck down to the bed either.

I sat up and waited as my eyes adjusted to the darkness.

The room I was in looked even creepier at night, if that was possible.

The bed squeaked as I stood up and walked around the room.

I didn't touch anything because I had no idea what anything was and I didn't want to hurt myself.

As I made my way over to the door, I turned the knob to find that it was unlocked.

The door opened with ease, and I stepped out into the silent hallway, carefully shutting the door behind me.

This was too easy.

It's a trap probably.

They most likely have everywhere bugged and under video surveillance, and they left the door unlocked on purpose.

Well, I was already going to die, so there was nothing to lose, right?

I walked down the hall, noticing for the first time that I wasn't wearing any shoes or regular clothes.

Instead, I was wearing one of those weird gowns that they make you wear when you visit the hospital.

My feet were freezing quickly, but that was a small price to pay for stealth.

This way, my heel wouldn't click down the hall like that woman from before.

On all of the doors, there was a little window at the top that you could look through.

I peered through every one I passed, to be met with a replica of the room I was supposed to be in.

It was like this place was a giant hospital, except that instead of healing you, they make you worse.

I continued to look through the windows until the end of the hallway.

There, there was a big set of double doors that were closed.

Well of course I needed to know what was through them.

I pushed the doors open, flinching as they squeaked a little bit.

When I slipped through them, I couldn't believe my eyes.

Iggy POV:

Every night was torture, just like those of when I was little.

Fortunately they gave me a large sized dog crate, but I still needed to sleep huddled up in a ball when I did manage to fall asleep.

I could sense the space around me was one of the biggest rooms in the School; they call it Experiment Room 3.

That basically means this is where they keep all of the people they're testing on.

It was jam-packed with dog crates of all sizes, XS being the smallest, XL being the biggest.

I could hear the moans and cries of the other test subjects, those who were unsuccessful yet still tortured by the Whitecoats every day.

There were experiments on either side of me.

One seemed to be just a little kid, like younger than Angel.

He was always heaving, and taking gasping breaths of air.

On the other side, I had no idea.

They never made any sound, but I could sense that he was there.

.

I didn't even know if he was alive or not.

Tonight was a night like every other.

The cries of the other experiments drowned out all of my coherent thought, and I stayed up all night thinking about the Flock.

My family.

I was twiddling my thumbs and thinking about the perfect compounds of a bomb I could make with Gazzy when I got back, if I got back.

The double-doors creaked open, and I expected that it was just a Whitecoat that had come to take another test subject away to endure hell.

Boy, was I ever wrong.

I heard a gasp that sounded like a teenaged girl, and I sat straight up in my cage.

There were no evil teenagers that I was aware of.

There were only adult Whitecoats that I knew of.

The girl stepped into the room, and made a weird noise that sounded like a cross between a chimpanzee and an owl.

I know, a weird combination, but that's what she sounded like!

She obviously saw the experiments.

"What… What on earth?" she stuttered.

I heard her walk a little closer towards my crate, and she said, "Um, hi. What's, uh, happening?'

I smiled and said, "Oh, you're knew, aren't you?"

There was a pause, and I assumed she was nodding.

I tried my best to meet her eyes, but I had no idea how tall she was.

All I could tell was that she was towering over my midget dog crate.

"Well, welcome to the School, I guess. An experimentation facility that supposedly 'helps society reach the best'" I put air quotes around those words.

I could tell that she was still confused, so I tried explaining it a little more, "Here, they'll put animal DNA in you and see what happens. That's what happened to all of these poor guys."

I gestured to the crates around me.

There was another sharp intake of breath.

"My name's Iggy." I said, reaching out my hand through the bars.

"Lena." she replied, shaking it, "Oh, and my face is up here."

"Sorry." I mumbled, aiming my eyes a little higher.

"Wait, are those… wings?" she asked hesitantly.

"Sorry? Oh, um, yeah." I said, spreading them out a little further.

"Oh, okay." she said, "Actually, you're not the first person I've met with wings."

My ears perked up at this.

"Really? Who else?" I asked.

If there were other bird kids out there… that would be insane.

"Um, his name was Fang. My friends and I met him randomly on the street, and it turned out he knew one of them. Who knew, right?" she said, obviously not aware that anything was wrong.

"Wait, Fang? What did he look like?" I asked urgently.

"Uh, he looked kinda emo, like wearing all black and stuff. And his wings were all black." she said, picking up the tension.

I sniggered a little bit.

If Fang heard anyone call him emo, he would go ballistic.

But I soon went back to a serious demeanor.

"No way." I whispered.

"What is it?" she asked.

"Well, you won't believe this, but I know Fang. He's one of my best friends." I told her.

There was silence, and then Lena finally said, "I feel so weird, talking to you when you're in a cage. Do you want out?"

Startled, I asked, "And how do you plan on getting me out?"

"Well using this, of course," she said.

I obviously didn't know what she was holding up, so I needed to ask.

"Um, what?"

"Well a bobby pin, obviously. Wait, why couldn't you see it, it's right here," she said confusedly.

"Oh, um, well, I'm kinda blind."

She stopped short, and then started apologizing like crazy, "Oh, I'm so sorry! I had no idea-"

"It's fine. Most people never guess." I cut her off.

"Oh, well, if you're sure…" she said "Now let's get you out of here."

I heard the clanging of metal against metal, and then finally a click to signify that it worked.

There was the soft creak of my door opening, and I climbed out on my hands and knees.

"Great. Now I can talk to you without feeling awkward." she said, laughing a little.

"Ok. So, how did you get here?" I asked her.

"Well, its kind of a long story." Lena said.

"I have time." I replied.

She told me her story, from the beginning when she met a girl named Casey, to when she was abducted by the Erasers.

When she was finished, we were quiet for a moment.

"I remember Casey, I think." I said finally, "She was always really quiet. The same age as Max, Fang and I, but she only really ever talked to Fang. And then, we escaped without another thought towards her. But she seriously got out? How?"

"Well, when she-" Lena started, but was cut off.

There were voices of grown men outside of the door, and they were growing steadily louder.

"Oh, crap." she said, the panic in her voice.

"Run, hurry!" I said, nudging her to get behind the cages.

She did as I said and ducked behind the crates right as a few Whitecoats walked in.

I managed to get back in my cage and make it look locked (I hope) before they saw, and they walked over to a crate a few to the right of me.

The metal bars swung open with a clang, and I could tell the experiment made no effort to resist their grip.

When the scientists left the room, I let out an audible sigh and pushed my cage door open again.

I could hear Lena jump over the crates in front of me, and said, "Wow, that was a close one."

"Yeah, really." I agreed, nodding my head.

"Wait, so I have a question," she said a little timidly.

"Ask away!" I said.

"Well, can you actually… _fly_… with your wings?" she asked.

"Yep. Do you wanna see?" I asked her, grinning.

"Really? You might get caught though." she warned.

"Nope, they just took someone. They won't be back for a while." I said confidently.

"Well, if you're sure…" she trailed off.

"I'm sure." I reassured her, "Just tell me if I'm about to crash into anything." I joked.

I let my wings out.

It felt good to stretch my 15-ft. wingspan.

There was no room in the crate, and I didn't dare when they took me out to experiment.

I took a running start, and leapt into the air.

Instead of falling to the earth like a normal person, I beat my wings powerfully so I stayed suspended in air.

"Wow." Lena breathed.

"Pretty awesome, right?" I said cockily.

She chuckled, and watched me fly blindly around the room.

After ten minutes of flying around doing midair summersaults and tumbles, I finally touched back down.

"As my friend Joe would say, that was epic." she said.

"I know I am." I said, shrugging.

"Well, it was great to meet you, but I need to get back to my room before they notice I'm missing." Lena said, sounding regretful that she couldn't stay longer.

"Don't worry, I have a feeling that we'll meet again. You're staying in one of the white rooms, right?" I asked.

"Yeah." she said.

"Well that's only where they keep the people who are 100% human. Once they start to test on you, you'll probably end up here." I told her.

"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?" she asked me.

"Um… I don't know. It's whatever you want it to be." I replied.

She laughed again, and said "Bye, Iggy."

And with that, she ninjad **(A/N: Yeah, I just made ninja a verb.)** out of the room.

Lena POV:

Wow, that Iggy sure was some strange guy.

He was nice though, and he told me what I needed to know.

I crept through the brightly lit halls, cautious not to bump into anyone.

I remembered my room was at the end of the hall on the left.

The room was still dark and the same as it was when I left, so hopefully no one had been in here yet.

My bed was waiting, so I climbed in and immediately fell into a deep dreamless sleep.


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: Hey sorry I didn't update on Sunday, but usually I write a few pages over the week, then the rest of the chapter on Saturday, but I woke up late on Saturday and then my brother was being a jerk and wouldn't let me type so I barely got any done then and then I slept over at my friend's house and stayed all day because there was a football party in the afternoon (go Giants! Woo hoo!) and I got home at like 9:00 and then I was exhausted so I went to sleep.**

**So yeah, sorry about that…**

**Remember to review!**

**Some authors say that it makes them write faster and before I wrote fanfics I thought it was BS, but now that I actually write I found out that it's true.**

**So if you review it'll make me write faster even though I usually only update on Sunday.**

**So… Yeah.**

**On with the story!**

Gazzy POV:

I couldn't help it: I started to cry.

_Man up, Gazzy!_ A voice in my head tried to tell myself, but I shook my head clear and ignored it.

No, he can't be gone!

First Fang, now Iggy.

Who will I make bombs with?

"It's okay, Gazzy. We'll get him back, don't you worry." Max tried to reassure me.

"Bu- but what if we don't?" I ask her, still sniffling.

"We will, don't worry about it. Remember how we got Angel back? And when we all broke out of the School ourselves? We can get Iggy out of there, easy." she said.

I think she was trying to convince herself as much as she was I.

"ZOMG Who was that, then? I mean he looked just like Iggy, same hair, same clothes, and he was blind. Right Max? He was blind, right? Oh wait; it's probably another clone like Maya, right? They made a clone of Iggy and sent him to us, just like they did with Maya. I wonder when they took the real Iggy though. When we were hiding out in that old house when Fang left, or before that? I think it was before that, Iggy seemed a little weird for a while…" Nudge jabbered.

Max let her babble on, too tired to stop her.

Eventually, Nudge ran out of steam and became as quiet as the rest of us.

"How are we going to get him back, then?" asked a small voice belonging to my sister.

"Well, we're going to need to come up with a plan, now won't we?" said Max, "Let's list everything we know."

She took out a piece of paper and a pen, and got ready to start writing.

"Iggy is in the School right now, and we need to get him out." I started.

"And for a while, they sent a clone of him to take his place." contributed Angel.

"And the School is in Death Valley, in California." said Nudge.

"Okay, great. Anything else?" Max asked.

After none of us could think of anything else to add to the list, she folded up the paper and put it in her pocket.

"So now, a plan!" she announced, "We need to get to the School, break in, get Iggy, break out, and then get as far away as we can."

"Okay, so how are we gonna do that?" asked Nudge.

"Well, that's the problem." said Max.

"Bombs." I muttered.

"What was that, Gaz?" Max asked me.

"Bombs!" I said again, louder, "I'm good at making really powerful bombs, even without Iggy there. We could, like, bomb a hole in the side of the wall and then fight the Whitecoats to get Iggy, and then get out of there easily."

"Gazzy, you're a genius!" said Max, ruffling my hair.

I smiled for what seemed like the first time in ages, and then started to explain what I would need to make a successful bomb.

"Well, you need either uranium or plutonium. But Iggy and I experimented, and we found out that uranium works best. The security at some places that sell it isn't very heavy so we could get some pretty easily. And there's a big store in San Diego that sells uranium, so we could stop there. Then it's easy to convert it to liquid, which needs to be done, and also we need some hydrofluoric acid, and actually there's a supplier in southern California also, but there's high security there. Nothing we can't handle, though. So then you need to put both compounds together to make hexafluoride. Okay the next part will be tricky. We need to get fluorine gas, and there aren't any distributors near the School, but there is one a few miles from here. About 25 miles, actually. So then you need to slowly put the fluorine gas into the hexafluoride, and then put pressure on it with like a bicycle pump or something. Okay, this next part will sound weird, but stick with me. You need to put the liquid uranium hexafluoride in a bucket, and then attach a rope to the bucket's handle, and then swing it in a circle above your head as fast as you can for about 45 minutes. Then, you need to slow down gently a little bit at a time until it's not moving any more. Then you need to do that until you have ten pounds of uranium. Ok then to turn it back into metal, you need to put some calcium in the bucket of uranium. The calcium will separate the uranium hexafluoride with all of the impurities, which will turn into a clear salt. So then the uranium's metal again. You need to keep the uranium in two separate bowls, five pounds in each bowl. So you need to hammer the two halves into each bowl so they are a good fit. You need to keep them about twenty feet away from each other, so they don't 'go critical' on you just yet. Not yet, at least. Then you need to hollow out an old vacuum cleaner and put the two bowls inside it. Take another five-pound hunk of uranium and put it in a stainless steel bowl. The stainless steel and the vacuum are because they help reflect the neutrons back into the uranium for a bigger explosion. Then comes the fun part. You can use any kind of explosives, like gunpowder and TNT and blasting caps, but Iggy and I prefer C4. You need to mold the C4 to a bowl the same shape and size as the ones the liquid uranium is in. Then you need to hook it up to a detonation device with a few batteries, a switch, and some wire. Then you just put it inside an old vacuum, and there you go. Instant A-Bomb." I finished, a little out of breath.

"Whoa." said Nudge, her eyes wide with wonder.

"I worry about you sometimes Gaz, you know that?" said Max, shaking her head and smiling.

"Well, now we know how to make a big bomb!" exclaimed Angel.

**Two Weeks, A Flight to Death Valley, and a Whole Lot of Uranium Hexafluoride Later:**

Gazzy POV (still):

"I think we've got it!" I cried, looking over my handiwork.

I ran my dirty fingers through my hair, and slowly paced around the seemingly innocent vacuum cleaner.

"Gasmask, are you sure that it's completely safe and won't go off until we want it to?" asked Max, still unsure of my epic ninja skills.

"I'm sure, don't worry. And I put in a timer so we can set it and then get as far away as possible before it blows." I reassured her.

"And how much damage will it do?" she asked, holding in place the braid Angel was putting in her hair.

"It'll knock a giant hole in the wall, maybe take out a few Whitecoats and Erasers, but not too much damage. Of course we need to make sure that it's nowhere near Iggy because of the radioactivity… But don't worry it'll be fine." I said.

Max looked unnerved about my comment on radioactivity, but made no more objections about my use of the bomb.

I am one of the resident pyromaniacs, after all.

"I think she needs a name." I announced, referring to the vacuum cleaner bomb in front of us.

_She?_ I could hear Angel's voice in my head.

_Yes, she. Leave me alone. _I thought back.

Angel gave me a look as if to say, _whatever you say, Gasmask._

"So what should we name her?" I asked the Flock.

"Um, ZOMG how about Sparkle Diva Princess?" suggested Nudge, obviously excited at the idea.

I glanced up at her face to see if she was kidding or not.

She wasn't.

"Um, no." said Max, expressing my thoughts perfectly.

"What about The WMD?" suggested Angel.

"Sorry, the what?" asked Max.

"The WMD. The Weapon of Mass Destruction." Angel said again.

"The WMD…" I repeated, "I like it!"

Angel smiled happily, and continued to braid Max's hair.

"So anyone have a an of spray paint?" I asked, looking around.

"Um, why would you need spray paint, Gaz?" Max inquired.

"Well to paint on the side of the bomb of course." I said like it was obvious.

"Uh, why?" she asked.

"So it'll look awesome. Duh." I replied.

She looked skeptical, but shrugged and got ready to go to the store.

"Come on, guys. It's time to go get some spray paint." Max commanded.

"Okay, Max." said Angel, "Will we be coming back here?"

"I don't think so, honey. You better get everything that you took with you." Max responded.

The four of us went into the abandoned bar and into the back room to collect those few possessions that we have.

There was the photo of me as a baby that we found at Dr. Martinez's house, and the food that we never ate from the supermarket.

Once we got everything outside, we reached a dilemma.

"Um, how are we going to get the bomb to the School?" asked Nudge.

"Well, um," Max started, "I'm guessing that it can't be dropped from big heights, right?"

"Yeah," I replied, "That would be bad."

"Maybe we could all help to carry it? We're only a few miles away from the School, so we could probably do it." Angel suggested.

"That'd work." I said.

I opened my wings and held onto the top of the bomb.

Max grabbed the middle, and Angel and Nudge got the bottom.

"Okay, we lift it up on the count of three," I said, "one, two, three!"

Everyone lifted the vacuum, and we got it in the air successfully, keeping it mainly on our backs.

It wasn't too heavy with the five of us all helping to carry it.

We touched down to earth in an abandoned parking lot, hiding the WMD behind a dumpster.

There was an A.C. Moore where we would get the spray paint.

The four of us stepped through the automatic doors into a cool, air-conditioned store.

"Wait, do we have any money?" asked Nudge.

"Oh. Well, I guess the store won't miss the $5 it costs to buy spray paint." Max said, looking regretful.

Max walked up to a store employee wearing a nametag tag that said, _Hello, My Name is Darren_ and asked, "Hey. Can you tell me where the spray paint is?"

He gave her a once-over, obviously disgusted by her matted hair and dirty face, and glanced over at us with the same expression.

"Aisle 6, ma'am." he said, hurrying away as quickly as he could do politely.

"Well he was nice," said Max sarcastically.

"Aisle 6, here we come!" announced Nudge.

Once we were in that aisle, I scanned all of the colors they had.

"Well, the WMD is black. So the spray paint color should be…" I murmured to myself as I picked up a can, "red!"

Max walked over to me and asked, "Is that what you want, hon?"

I nodded, and she glanced around to make sure there were no video cameras or employees or anything before she shoved the can of paint in one of the inside pockets of her jacket.

"Okay, let's get out of here before anyone sees us." said Max, ushering us all out the door.

Once the five of us were outside in the spring air again unnoticed by anyone, store employee or otherwise, the WMD was lugged to some of those random woods by the highways.

I shook up the bottle of red spray paint, and uncapped it.

"Hey, Max?" I began, looking towards her, "Can you do the writing on it? You have the neatest handwriting."

"Sure Gazzy." she replied.

I handed her the bottle, and she began to spray crimson paint on the base of our A-bomb.

"How does that look?" she asked me once she was finished.

A grin overtook my face, and I nodded enthusiastically.

Ever since we realized Iggy had been taken, it felt like Max was being overly nice to me.

I was closest to Iggy out of the whole flock, and yeah it was hard for me, but it kin of irritated me to see Max treating me like I was Angel's age.

I mean; I had just made a giant bomb for crying out loud!

Sure I could understand why she was going easy on me, but still it wasn't necessary.

"When should we go destroy the School?" asked Nudge, snapping me out of thought, "I mean, it'd be best if we could go ASAP, you know what I mean? Like, the sooner we get Iggy out of there, the better."

Max thought for a moment then said "Let's head over there tomorrow. First we need a good night's sleep."

"Max?" Angel asked in that sweet voice of hers, "Do you think Iggy is okay?"

Our fearless leader paused, staring off in the distance with a world of emotions swirling in her brown eyes before finally answering, "I don't know. Let's just hope so."

Soon the day slowly turned to night and the sky was a deep purple, the stars beginning to come out.

"It'll be warm tonight," Max informed us, "Do you guys want to sleep in a tree here?"

"ZOMG that'd be soooooooo much fun! It could be like we were all camping like normal families do!" exclaimed Nudge.

After only a few minutes of walking through the highway woods, Angel spotted a tree that could work to accommodate our needs.

"Everyone up!" commanded Max, opening her wings and flying up to a sturdy-looking branch, narrowly missing hitting other lower branches with her wingspan.

I made sure the WMD was all right down at the base of the tree before flying up to meet my flock.

"Does anyone want food?" Max asked us, holding out the backpack that we stored everything in, including food.

"Me!" the three of us chorused, and Max doled out an apple and some ready-made turkey to each of us.

Soon, when we were all satisfied, my flock began dozing off one by one.

First Nudge (and snoring loudly, I might add), then Angel, and at what I'm guessing was around 11 pm, I could finally hear the slow, steady breathing coming from Max that signified she has fallen asleep.

That just left me awake by myself.

I could hear tiny chirps coming from crickets in the grass below, and a cool night breeze gently tickled my face.

The moonlight was flooding down like a spotlight, encasing me in its silvery glow.

Up in the inky black sky, tiny balls of white light were twinkling, so oblivious to the horrible plights happening down here on earth.

I sighed, and gently shut my eyes.

Quickly, I fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.

What seemed like so soon, I was awoken by the calls of Max saying, "Come on, guys! Up and at 'em!"

My eyes automatically opened, and I was shocked by the bright sunlight filtering through the leaves of the tall tree.

Coming from a few feet away, I could hear Nudge whining, "Come on! Five more minutes?"

"Nope," Max replied merrily, "If we're going to rescue Iggy from the School, we should do it as soon as possible."

"Ugggggggh." Nudge groaned in reply, but she was slowly raising herself into a sitting position anyways.

"Okay. So we're about a fifteen-minute's flight away from Death Valley, and with the bomb it ought to be thirty minutes." Said Max, "So before we leave, breakfast."

Max unzipped the backpack and handed everyone a two rolls each and a jar of blackberry jam with a plastic knife.

I spread the jam on my bread, and bit in.

Once everyone had finished eating, Max announced, "Okay. Let's get going."

We did the same procedure as before when lifting the WMD, and soon we were flying about 1500 feet in the air, heading towards Death Valley.

"Max?" Angel started, "What are we gonna do once we get there?"

Even though Angel always acted strong for us, never showing fear, it was obvious she was horrified at the idea of going back to the School.

"Well Gaz, does the bomb have a timer?" Max asked me.

"Yeah, you can put it down somewhere and set it to explode up to an hour later so you can get as far away as possible." I responded.

"Great. So we're going to sneak into the School's property and put the bomb down somewhere. Then, we're gonna get as far away as we can, and let's give the bomb half an hour before it explodes. Once it knocks down a few walls, we'll run in, get Iggy, and leave. Wait how big of an explosion will it cause?"

"Um… I'd say on a scale from one to ten, one being a puny smoke bomb, ten being atomic, it'd be about a four or five." I told the flock.

"Great." said Max with a smile, "So it'll be just the right size explosion for knocking down a few walls."

Soon we were al up in the air sharing the weight of the WMD.

"Hey Max?" What happens if we don't get Iggy?" nudge asked, sounding reluctant to hear the answer.

"Then we'll keep going back until we can take him home," replied Max, sounding both scared, determined, and exhilarated at the same time.

After thirty minutes of flying in silence, we saw in the distance the building we knew much too well for our liking.

Twenty-foot high barbed wire fences, at the tops five-inch, surrounded the building's tall white walls deadly looking spikes.

Every one hundred feet or so, there were huge guard towers with the heavy, wolfish silhouettes of Erasers standing at attention inside each and every one.

The four of us dropped down into a group of trees about a mile away from the School to figure out the final plan.

"Do you think we can sneak in unnoticed, or do we need to use distractions while the others plant the bomb?" I wondered out loud.

Max grimaced at the idea of using someone as a piece of meat, and said, "let's take a look around the perimeter, maybe we can find a place where they won't be able to see us sneak in."

Nudge and Max volunteered to keep the WMD on their backs while we all walked around the School, staying in the bushes at all times while looking for a way in without the Erasers seeing us.

When we were half-way around the laboratory, we found a spot that was blind to the guard towers.

Max began to instruct us on what to do, "Gaz, set the bomb to go off in exactly half an hour."

I did as she said, and max continued to speak, "On the count of three, we fly above the walls, plant the bomb, and get the heck out of there. Ready? One, two, three!"

Max ran out first, with me trailing behind her, and the Nudge and Angel.

We all opened our wings simultaneously and flew over the walls, dumped the bomb in a bush right next to the eastern wall of the School, and flew over the building and away.

The four of us kept flying until we were about three miles away from the School.

"Wow, that was exciting!" exclaimed Nudge.

"And now, we wait." voiced Angel.

Exactly thirty minutes later, I heard a faint _boom _and we decided to cautiously fly back to see how much damage was done.

"ZOMG!" (Nudge)

"That's totally wicked!" (Me)

"Oh." (Angel)

"I'm proud of you, little buddy." (Max)


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: Hey everyone, this is a PM I got from EPICMOoSE1112 and I thought I should put it on here. Please read it, it's super important. Oh BTW sorry for the late update again.**

THIS IS A CAMPAIGN TO SAVE FANFICTION!

HEY THERE  
>HEY CHECK THIS OUT FIRST VIMP SEND IT TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW<br>Okay everyone pay attention, BIG NEWS AFOOT.

I recently discovered that there is a new bill called PIPA that is if is pass  
>it will REMOVE EVERY STORY IN ALL OF FANFICTION.<p>

The U.S government is trying to take away this site! We have to kill that  
>bill. The thing is I am not an American citizen. But many people who read this<br>are. There is a fanfiction member under the penname of XxDarkxBloodxX he has  
>more information about that, including the phone numbers of all the state<br>senators. Check this link for more information .net/s/7753936/1/PIPA and also  
>google Bill PIPA and you will know I am not joking.<p>

We are over 2 million members and most of them are in the United States. If we  
>most of us work together we can kill this bill. So to every citizen reading<br>this DON'T LET YOUR GOVERNMENT CENSOR THIS SITE. To everyone reading this who  
>isn't a U.S citizen, make author notes like this one so that your American<br>readers vote against this bill and I encourage the American members to spread  
>the voice as well.<p>

I repeat, this is no joke! We have until the January 24th. EVERYONE, FIGHT  
>THIS BILL!<p>

People, I have an idea. It seems that Hollywood is a major supporter of PIPA  
>and SOPA. They even threaten Obama to don't give him any money for his<br>reelection campaign.

So to everyone who can't vote because you are either too young or not an  
>American citizen, you can join a world-wide boycott movement against<br>Hollywood. From tomorrow Friday 20 to Sunday 22 of January DON'T GO TO THE  
>MOVIE THEATRE.<p>

Seriously, just three short days for us that we can live without movies and  
>Hollywood will lose millions of dollars world-wide. It will also send a<br>message to their leader: FANFICTION MEMBERS WILL FIGHT AGAINST PIPA AND SOPA.  
>Then they might start having second thoughts.<p>

So everyone please cooperate for the sake of this site. Just three short days  
>for us but it will be a pain in the pocket for Hollywood, the main opposition.<br>So let's rally against our common enemy.

We can do this people! So you know the drill and now go spread the word!

FOR FANFICTION!

I have more information everyone. Believe it or not, this cybernetic  
>apocalypse is already starting. One of the most important websites of file<br>exchange known as Megaupload has already been shut down by the FBI all thanks  
>to this blasted bill. And it gets worse. I managed to find a legit list of all<br>the sites that will be shut down (so far, the list may grow bigger).

For downloading sites, the ones scheduled for execution are:

Mediafire

Rapidshare

Uploading

Fileserve

4share

Filestube

Ares

Limeware

Emule

Edonkey

Torrents

For Blackberry cellphone related things:

Duoberry

Lips

And even the social network ones like:

Facebook

Youtube

Myspace

Google (videos)

Wikipedia

We can't allow this to happen! We have to fight! And we can fight. There is a  
>website called www. avaaz. Org  es / save _ the _ internet. You can sign up  
>there for the petition. It requires your email and I know many people don't<br>like to give that away but if there has ever been a worthy cause to give your  
>email address to, this is it. Let's face it; what use will we give our email<br>aside from contacting other people if they shut down all these websites? An  
>email address will became almost worthless. So go to that website and help<br>save the internet.

By the way, if anyone wants to copy paste the information of these author's  
>notes to PM it or post it in your own stories to help spread the word, by all<br>means go ahead.

And remember the boycott against Hollywood; three short days for us, millions  
>of dollars less to our opposition. We can do this people! And we will do it!<p>

FOR FANFICTION! DOWN WITH THE BILL

Please post this on your stories and pm it. Even if you have friends not on  
>fanfiction I'm sure you can catch their attention with youtube! DO IT NOW! WHY<br>WAIT?

**Ok so that's it, I know that it's 1/23 right now and the movies thing has already passed, but it's not too late to start boycotting Hollywood! So do you really want to lose fanfiction? Yeah, neither do I. And also I'd be pretty pissed if youtube was shut down. So go do whatever you can!**

*****UPDATE*****

**So SOPA and PIPA have been postponed! Yay! So even though it's still important it's not as big anymore.**

Lena POV

********************************3 Weeks Later********************************

I picked up the small journal in the corner and flipped it open and began to read what I had written.

This book was a journal, more or less, one that the Whitecoats made me keep track of my "progress" in the mutation process.

Here was a written account of everything I had been through in the past three weeks, the good and the bad (but mostly bad).

_Day 1_

_I feel fine today. I mean, sure my arm hurts a little from where they made an injection, but I don't feel weird or anything. So eventually they decided by themselves that they would put the Bengal tiger DNA in me since I was being so uncooperative. Well there doesn't really seem to be anything going on yet, so bye._

_Day 2_

_Yeah still nothing. They didn't take me into the lab today, so I just hung out around that white room for the entire day. Hey for all of you Whitecoats reading this, it was BOOO-RIIIING! Please consider putting an Xbox in there, maybe with some Modern Warfare 3 or something._

_Day 3_

_They took me into a room I've never seen before today, and they took like an x-ray or an MRI or something. It was kinda weird… But anyways I've been feeling a little weird today. My bones ache just a little. Not like it's left me incapable of moving or anything, just it's a little uncomfortable._

_Day 4_

_Ok the pain in my bones is a little worse now, but still not serious. They took me back into the x-ray room and then they gave me more injections: two on my right arm and one on my left thigh. It was weird because they only spoke to me to give me commands like "Wake up" and "Step into the x-ray machine" and stuff like that._

_Day 5_

_They drew blood today from my finger. I felt really dizzy around noon and I guess I passed out because when I woke up it was much later. My fingers are really hurting, like around the nail. And so are my toes and gums. And the bottom of my spine aches a lot._

_Day 6_

_It was a little freaky today. They gave me more shots and when I got back to my room everything was so uncomfortable. Not like it really hurt, but just really weird like at night and you're under the covers and it gets all hot and sweaty and claustrophobic. It's like that, but all the time. And also, my fingers and toes are harder to move and the nails are growing a little quickly. I've gotten into the habit of chewing on them when they get too long._

_Day 7_

_Today I noticed that there was weird hair growing on my legs and arms. It looked like a little orange with patches of black. Oh god, it's starting to happen, isn't it? I'm turning into a tiger. And they made me have another x-ray and they drew some more blood._

_Day 8_

_My bones feel really weird. I stayed in the room all day in my bed except to walk across the room to get this book. And it hurts to walk. And my teeth are getting really weird also, because they seem bigger like they don't fit my mouth right. And they're more pointed, like a tiger. It's so hard to stay calm right now._

_Day 9_

_They came in and talked to me today. They asked me questions like about how I was feeling and what was happening to me. I answered them but I found it a little difficult to talk. My voice came out a little deeper and gruffer than I'm used to, and it was a little scary. Also, everything sounds different. I can hear much clearer, and I could hear small things that I'd never noticed before. I heard the Whitecoat's footsteps down the hall long before he entered the room. And the rustle of his papers were much more distinct._

_Day 10_

_My smell went all wonky today. I smelled so much. But one thing really stood out. There was the smell of blood everywhere. On every piece of machinery in the room, permanently attached to the sheets of my hospital gurney. On the breath of the Whitecoat that took me in for testing. I guess tigers have a good sense of smell, huh? But they gave me another injection on my arm. Usually all of the liquids they put in me were clear, but this one was a sickly green color. I don't want to know what it was._

_Day 11_

_I don't remember what happened most of today. They woke me up during the evening, so I suppose I slept all day. They did another x-ray, but this time they showed it to me compared with an x-ray of a normal human. It was horrifying. My skeleton looked distorted, with the forehead being wider and my fingers shorter and thicker. But what freaked me out the most was my tail. That's right, I saw a string of bones starting at my hips and running about five or six inches long. When I saw this I reached behind me and sure enough, they had cut a hole in the back of my hospital gown to let it grow through. They took more blood._

_Day 12_

_Everything hurt today. It felt as if my bones were re-arranging to be more like a tiger. Good thing I left his stupid book next to my bed so I didn't need to get up. I lay in bed all day, not doing anything really. I thought of home, what they were doing right now. I guess Fang might've figured out where I am right now, but I doubt it. I'm pretty sure no one saw them take me._

_Day 13_

_They came in to question me again today. This time when I spoke though my voice was more like a roar than ever before. I was still intelligible, but I was for some reason embarrassed at my voice. They asked me things like how I was feeling and what traits of a Bengal tiger were showing in me. I answered truthfully, and talked about my tail, hearing, smell, finger and toenails, teeth, and obvious voice change. I doubt I told them anything they didn't know already though._

_Day 14_

_They took more blood today. But this time instead of leading me down the hall they wheeled my gurney down. I guess it was evident I wouldn't be able to walk down myself without collapsing (which is true, might I add). And also, they gave me a mirror. When I peered in, I couldn't believe what I saw. There was a face that looked similar to mine, but different in so many ways. For one, my eyes were flicking around constantly, never staying in the same place for more than a second. But my face structure had changed to something more broad and wide. And my skin. My skin still was human flesh, but had peach fuzz fur covering it in the telltale black and orange tiger stripes. An I had strange short whiskers growing out from each cheek. I tried to say something, but my voice came out as more of a roar then a human voice. It was then, I think, that I fainted._

_Day 15_

_I felt sick all of today. I'm pretty sure it was because of what, or who, I saw in the mirror yesterday. No one came into my room, and I was thankful for that. When I was sure no one was around, I tried to speak quietly to myself. It still sounded like a soft growl, but I could understand myself, which was good. I tried to say things like "Hello. My name is Lena Baker" and "I miss my friends called Casey, CC, Wenny, Rebecca, Andrew, and everyone else." There was so much truth in my words, though. I think part of my aching comes from missing them so much. The song "Big Yellow Taxi" was going around in my head all day because it was about how you don't realize how much things mean to you until you don't have them anymore. I guess this illustrated part of my predicament. It's not like there are any songs about how it sucks to be turned into a mutant tiger-human, so this was the next-best song I could think of._

_Day 16_

_I walked around my room a little today, testing out my new walk. I walked a little more crouched now, and I felt more agile. Like I could run really quickly and jump even higher than before. But I didn't try to jump because my bones were still aching from their metamorphosis. Heh, I feel so smart using big words. But anyways, a Whitecoat came in again and before he could say anything I started to ask him something. "Now what? Can I leave now? I mean, you already made me a mutant and I'll never be normal again. I think you proved your point, and I just want to go home." I growled. He said that I couldn't, and left the room without another word. These people are so confusing sometimes._

_Day 17_

_Nothing happened today, I just hung out around my room being bored._

_Day 18_

_Same as yesterday, except they drew some more blood in the lab._

_Day 19_

_Something a little strange happened today. I saw Dr. Jasper for the first time since my first day here. He had an Eraser pick me up and move me to a wheelchair. He seemed completely unfazed by my grotesque human-tiger face, which made me suspect that I was far from the first mutant he had come in contact with. Once he had wheeled me to his office at the end of the hall, he began to speak to me. I'll copy down our conversation below. I'll make him J and me L._

_J: Do you know why you're here today?_

_L: Um, no…?_

_J: Well in addition to Bengal tiger DNA, we will give you some "powers" if you will._

_L: Uh why?_

_He hesitated here, thinking up a good argument, probably._

_J: Well for science, of course._

_Just as I was thinking how he sounded like a messed up version of Cave Johnson _**(A/N: For all you Portal geeks out there ^_^)** _he started rattling off a list of dozens of weird powers that I suppose I could get. I only caught the last few though._

_J: Mind control, mind reading, advanced sight, smell and hearing, super strength, sonic speed running, and regeneration of limbs. Anything appeal to you?_

_I looked at him incredulously._

_J: No? Okay, I guess we're just going to have to pick for you._

_He gave me a disapproving look and began to rifle through some desk drawers._

_J: Take her away._

_He motioned to me and a pair of Erasers came up behind me on either side and wheeled me back to my room. They shut the door behind me and I struggled to get out of the wheelchair. I finally did, and managed to drag myself over to my bed where I fell asleep instantly._

_Day 20_

_I was woken up early to the sounds of the Whitecoats yelling at me. "Get up and move it. You're not coming back to this room again." it was then when they put me in my wheelchair and strapped me down with metal cuffs and took me down to the big double doors that I had been to only once. It was as horrible there as it had been the first time, with the low moans of different experiments coming from everywhere. I looked all around to see Iggy in the same cage as last time, looking as bored as ever. There was no way I could notify him of my presence without the Whitecoats seeing, so I kept my mouth shut. They brought me to a large crate with silver bars and a big padlock just like every other cage. One big burly one shoved me in and locked it with a final-sounding _click_. Once I was sure they had left, I took the bobby pin out of my hair and fumbled with it for a bit before finally fitting it into the lock. I slowly took it off of the cage as not to make a sound, and gently pushed the door open._

"_Hey, Iggy." I called quietly._

"_Huh?" he perked up instantly, confusion spreading across his face._

"_It's me, Lena." I was whispering as loud as I could._

_His sightless eyes widened, and jerked around to face my voice._

_I tentatively stepped out of the claustrophobic crate and tiptoed over to his._

"_Let me get you out of here." I whispered. I put the bobby pin in the lock, and smiled when I heard the _click_ that meant it had worked. He pushed the door open with his foot and stepped out of his prison like the first day we had met, except there was a lot less awkward tension surrounding us._

"_Hey what are you doing here?" he murmured._

"_They put me here. I guess we're gonna be neighbors now." I joked._

"_Wait so does that mean… You have a mutation now? What'd they do to you?"_

"_Tiger. Tiger DNA." I informed him._

"_Yeah that's what it sounded like from your voice." he mused, referring to the growl I had grown used to, "What else changed? I mean, not to be nosy or anything…"_

"_No, it's fine." I reassured him, "Well it's the voice, the face fuzz, the tail, wonky smell and hearing, and strength."_

_He winced as I said this. "Wait face fuzz? That doesn't sound very pleasant."_

"_Yeah, it's not." I laughed softly._

"_Wait, Dr. J say anything about giving you additional powers?" he asked sounding worried all of a sudden._

"_Um yeah, why?" I inquired._

"_Oh no, oh no," he muttered to himself over and over again._

"_Why? What's happening?" I was beginning to become a little frantic._

"_You know how much it hurt becoming a tiger-human hybrid?" I nodded. "Well getting additional powers hurts so much more than that. Like, a million times worse. They mess with your mind. Oh god, I remember getting my powers. Let's just say, I fell really sorry for you in these upcoming days. The good thing is that it's over quickly. A few days of pain and then no more."_

_I couldn't speak, but was staring in his face. He seemed so sincere, so worried for me. It just reassured me how painful the next few days will be._

_Day 21_

_Early this morning I was woken up once again. They were yelling at me to get in the wheelchair to the lab. Oh joy, time for my personal hell. Once we were there one Whitecoat was preparing a few syringes. On closer inspection, I saw that one was filled with purple liquid, another florescent orange, and the third slime green. This was not going to be pleasant at all. They strapped me down to an operating table with the metal cuffs and the man approached me, tying on an operating mask as he was walking. He poised the green syringe to my neck, and injected it. The pain was sharp and immediate, shooting from the top of my head to the tips of my toes. It felt like someone stabbed a knife into that spot and was twisting it around. I clenched my teeth together to avoid screaming, but a squeak escaped my lips and tears were starting to form in the corners of my eyes. The same happened for the other two needles, and then the man said, "She's done." Two Erasers wheeled me back to Experiment Room 3 and locked me back in my cage._

I was jolted out of the mindset I get while reading by a humongous _boom_ that shook the whole building and making some crates fall off of the shelves they were placed on, followed by the shouts of many people and footsteps running up and down the halls.

Startled, I took out my bobby pin and undid my lock, and then rushed over to Iggy's to do the same.

My big tiger-like hands stumbled and were shaking, but I finally managed to unlock him.

"What's happening?" I asked him frantically as he was crawling out.

"How do you expect me to know?" he snapped, obviously as freaked out as I was.

"Come on!" I yelled, gesturing for him to follow me.

"Where are we going?" he ran after the sound of my voice.

"Just to see what's happening!"

I pushed open the big double-doors with Iggy behind me and ran down the hall.

What I saw there was insane.

There was a giant hole in the side of the building, gaping and smoking heavily.

Whitecoats were running around frantically, some dumping buckets of water on the smoke (which didn't do much help, mind you) and others were running back down the hallways.

Either in fear or to get supplies I wasn't sure.

None of them seemed to notice the two of us standing there, though.

"What's happening?" Iggy assessed me quickly.

"Giant hole in the building, smoking, frantic Whitecoats. Looks like the place was bombed." I replied, still in shock from the sight before us.

Iggy sniffed the air. "Smells well made. Like an Iggy and Gazzy classic. What is that, sodium hexafluoride? Must've been an A-bomb then."

He could sense that I was staring at him gaping because he said, "I'm a pyro-maniac. Because some people are just that awesome," he grinned cockily.

I shrugged, and then out of the corner of my eye I saw the outlines of four giant birds through the hole in the side of the building.

I didn't think anything of it until the birds got closer, and as it turned out they weren't birds, but people with wings.

_Of course,_ I though to myself,_ why wouldn't there be more bird people. My life keeps getting stranger and stranger._

The girl in the front of the group looked about my age, with long dirty blonde hair and a sturdy figure.

Behind her was a girl that looked twelve with dark skin and curly, thick, black hair and an eight-year-old boy with bright blond hair and a mischievous grin on his face.

In the back of the pack, a really young blonde girl with blue eyes that looked similar to the boy was flying.

They must've been half a mile away, yet I could see them in perfect detail.

I guess I was just going to have to get used to the super tiger eyesight.

The four of them were approaching quickly, and soon they were flying into the gaping hole.

"IGGY!" the blond boy called out and started running over to him.

"Gaz? That you?" Iggy's head perked up and was running toward the boy named Gazzy.

They embraced and soon were joined by the three other females.

I felt awkward standing there like that but when they broke apart Iggy explained to me what was going on.

"Lena, these are Gazzy, Max, Angel, and Nudge. They're part of my flock that I told you about. Guys, this is Lena." he explained.

Surprisingly, none of them seemed disturbed by my grotesque face, and they smiled and waved at me.

I shot them a smile back and gave them a quick wave.

"Wait, hold on a minute." Iggy looked concerned, "Guys, where's Fang?"

Max suddenly stiffened and the rest of them looked as if a shadow had fallen over their faces.

"He's-" Nudge started.

"He left." Max cut her of sharply.

Iggy looked crestfallen, "But why?"

"Because he's a dirty, rotten, no-good-" Max began to say but was cut off by the sweet-looking blonde girl.

"He thought he was doing the right thing, but he really wasn't. And I think he knew that inside of him." she said softly.

"Oh." Iggy muttered simply.

"Well," Max said putting on a forced smile, "Let's high-tail it out of here. Come on guys, Iggy, up and away."

"Wait!" he said, "What about Lena?"

"Lena?" Max seemed to forget that I was there.

She looked me over quickly, and motioned for Iggy to come with her.

Even though they were clearly trying not to be heard, I could hear what they were saying with my super senses.

"What do you mean, Iggy?" Max whispered frantically.

"I mean that she's coming with us." he defied.

"That… That's not a good idea." she said.

"And why not?" he demanded.

"Well who knows who she's working for? She could be part of Itex and you wouldn't know it!" Max argued.

"She's not. I can sense it," he countered.

"But even if she was innocent, how would we get her out? She obviously can't fly, and I doubt we could keep track of her if we were in the air and she was on land." Max said.

"Then we'll walk too. But we can't leave her here." Iggy insisted.

After a pause in which I'm guessing Max glared at him, she finally said "Fine. But if I have any suspicion whatsoever that she's working for Itex, I kick her out."

They soon came back to us, with Iggy looking smug and Max a little angry.

"Come on, everyone!" Iggy sang while letting out his wings and beginning to hover a few inches off the ground.

"Wait, how will I get out?" I asked.

The hole was in the ceiling and the top part of the wall, too high up for me to jump through.

"Uh, do you mind if we lift you up?" Iggy inquired.

I shot him a reproachful look I knew he wouldn't see before giving in, "Sure, fine, whatever. But if you dislocate any of my joints, I dislocate your face."

He gave a small chuckle before walking over to assist me.

Max and Angel took each of my arms in their hands; Gazzy was spotting them and taking my feet, so that left Iggy who gently took hold of my waist.

I flushed bright red at his touch, but fortunately he couldn't see it.

"Okay, up and away in 5… 4… 3… 2… 1!" Max commanded.

In my head, I couldn't help but to think _blast off!_

Angel giggled softly, "Blast off, that's funny."

She smiled up at me with those big blue innocent eyes.

"Wait… I didn't say that out loud, did I?" I asked a little freaked out.

"No, I can read minds!" she replied as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

I couldn't think of anything else to say besides "Oh."

A mind-reading six-year-old, why not?

The flock opened their wings and I couldn't help but to gasp.

All of them together, they looked like a group of angels.

And I'm not religious, so it takes a lot for me to make comparisons to things in the bible.

Iggy's wings were pale cream colored, Gazzy's a little darker than that, Angel's pure white like the angel for which she was named, and Max's were brown on the top, growing lighter towards the bottom.

They all flapped their wings simultaneously and lifted me up in the air.

The sensation of flying was so unreal; it felt like I was in a dream.

But I couldn't help but feel the tiniest twinge of resentment.

I hate when people do things for me, I prefer to be independent and do things for myself.

The four bird-kids lifted me up out of the School and into the blue sky above.

Down below, I could hear the angry yells of the Whitecoats but we kept flying and didn't look back.

Once we were a few miles away from the School, there was an unspoken command among the flock to let me down on the ground and land next to me.

When we were all firmly planted on the earth, I began to babble my thanks.

"Thank you so much, how can I ever thank you enough? You didn't need to though, but it was so kind. And flying! Oh my god, that was so amazing. I've never done anything like that before-"

I stopped my rant as Iggy held up his pale hand with long, agile fingers.

"Stop. You're starting to sound like Nudge." he joked.

Nudge gave a sheepish grin and began drawing patterns in the dirt with her toe.

"So now that we're out, where should we go?" Gazzy asked enthusiastically.

"I'm supposing Lena wants to go back to where she belongs." Max said looking at me.

"Well yeah, but they put tiger DNA in me and now I look like a freak. So I don't know how I can go back now, because I'll probably be taken to a zoo." I replied nervously.

"Yeah that's true…" Max mused.

"So you can just stay with us until you decide to go back!" Iggy offered, not asking the other flock members opinions.

Max looked wary at first, but she finally nodded her consent.

"Yeah, that would be great!" exclaimed Nudge, "It'd be like having another sister! We could stay up all night talking, and paint each other's nails, and talk about boys, oh and ZOMG we could-"

"Stop Nudge, my ears are bleeding!" Iggy and Gazzy both yelled simultaneously.

She shut up with a regretful look, probably because she couldn't finish her sentence.

Now I see what Iggy meant about seeming like Nudge.

"So, are you gonna stay with us or not?" challenged Gazzy.

I looked around at everyone's faces.

Nudge, Angel, Gazzy and Iggy looked hopeful, and Max was trying to look like she couldn't care less."

"Well…" I said, "Fine. I'll stay with you guys."

**A/N: Ok sorry about the late update (again)! oh I found out a random fact today. Did you know a group of unicorns is called a blessing? Yup, pretty awesome I know.**


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: Hey guys. Well sorry to disappoint anyone but I'm putting this story on hiatus for now. I don't know, but I'm just not really sure what's going to happen next and I'm just not… feeling it anymore. Ya know what I mean? So the story isn't going to be ditched but I don't know when I'll update again. It's definitely not over, though. You're not getting rid of me that easily ;). But yeah, I'm not going to update for a while. Maybe a few days, maybe a few months. I really have no idea. So goodbye for now!**

**~FlamingMooseNinjasOfEpicness**


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